Networking and best practices at the ENERGee Watch final event in Kilkenny

On July 14 the ENERGee Watch Best Practice Roundtable provided participants with networking and exchange opportunities on their main achievements and current challenges in their region. The project’s final event took place in Kilkenny, Ireland, organised with the support of the South East Energy Agency as part of the General Assembly of FEDARENE. 

The participants joined to discuss how sound data collection, monitoring and verification practices can foster the development of projects at the local level (energy savings campaigns, development of RES projects, development of energy communities etc.) and feed the regional policy dialogue. Next to the project partner organisations, the attendance comprised over 25 representatives of municipalities and local/regional energy agencies across Europe. 

Two rounds of networking sessions allowed each participant to exchange on two topics of interest and present their current, past or future projects; they had a number of six tables to choose from, with eight rotating topics: adaptation to climate change, energy and GHG observatories, energy efficiency first, energy communities integrated services for building renovation, certification and building renovation, cooperation with businesses & SMEs, green hydrogen, leadership & planning for climate neutrality.

Each table had a moderator and rapporteur, ensuring the flow in conversation and the collection of best practices linked to the four ENERGee Watch topics (data collection; data monitoring, reporting, verification; indicators and strategies on adaptation to climate change; data display, dissemination, and validation), together with practices on energy/GHG observatories and data hubs. 

The event’s attendants were also invited to participate in a city tour and a study trip during the day.

The first stop was at the new biogas plant in the Kilkenny Machinery Yard, a pilot funded through the Interreg NWE European Regional Development Fund. The establishment of this biogas plant is a notable achievement for the Kilkenny County Council and the South East Energy Agency, as well as for the biomethane producer Ormonde Organics, as biogas is not a commonly used fuel in Ireland yet and there was no available infrastructure to transport the gas in one go.

The second visit led to the Watershed, the local sports and leisure centre, 90% fueled with wood chips using biomass boilers heating solutions from WoodCo.

What now?

The ENERGee Watch Best Practice Roundtable was followed by the final meeting of the consortium, as the project is coming to an end in the month of August. The partners are now finalising the latest project deliverables and setting up the final public content on the https://energee-watch.eu website. 

As part of the strategy to ensure the project results are exploited, the learning materials developed for the four energy and climate data courses, a compilation of best practices, and the final reporting on the outcomes will be made available on the ENERGee Watch website at the end of August 2023.