Overview
Funding:
European Commission, Intelligent Energy Europe Programme
Timeframe:
30/06/2010 – 31/12/2012
Budget:
1 141 195 Euro
Contractors:
NL Agency, The Netherlands (Coordinator); WIP Renewable Energies, Germany; Berliner Energie-agentur GmbH, Germany; Austrian Energy Agency, Austria; Enviros, Czech Republic; CECODHAS, Belgium; BSERC, Bulgaria; ADENE, Portugal; Archimedes Foundation, Estonia; European Renewable Energy Council, Belgium
Description
The SF-Energy Invest project aimed to increase the share of Structural and Cohesion Funds (SCF) money that is spent on sustainable energy in the final phase of the 2007-2013 programming period, as well as to increase the share of the total budget allocated to renewable energy and energy efficiency in the 2014-2020 SCF programming period. In order to achieve this, the following specific objectives were set:
- Enhanced awareness in the EU of the benefits of fully exploiting the funding potential that SCF offer for sustainable energy investments and the importance of these investments for economic development, through mobilization campaigns in 9 regions, in particular those linked to the Covenant of Mayors;
- A clear set of recommendations for the use of energy-related Operational Programmes under the SCF, their eligibility criteria, administrative procedures and decision-making processes;
- Innovative financing schemes, particularly addressing the prefinancing and co-financing of projects under the SCF;
- Information on good project design and planning to help make project ideas eligible for SCF funding;
- SCF project proposals on sustainable energy ready for submission for SCF funding in five pilot regions (Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany/Poland border region, Romania, Portugal);
- Framework for exchange of information and experience through the nine mobilization campaigns, international events, panel discussion and workshops, bringing together stakeholders from all fields;
- Practical recommendations to improve the framework conditions and practical implementation of SCF programmes in the upcoming period 2014-2020, targeting DG REGIO and DG ENER as well as stakeholders in member states with a focus on the Managing Authorities.