Municipal energy management for sustainable climate financing

Project content and Measures

Recognizing the lack of systematic energy management systems in Bulgarian municipalities, the project works together with several partners. The local NGO EnEffect developed an energy management tool box that allows municipalities to develop energy management systems that comply with internationally recognized standards. Making use of the tools ensures the provision of reliable, energy-related data, enabling high-quality energy analyses, project monitoring, and improved planning processes.

View on houses and landscape; photo: Foundation Center for Energy Efficiency EnEffect

This, in turn, will increase the potential to attract financing for energy and climate projects, especially with regards to innovative financial schemes such as Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) services, but also potentially attracting investments from the national Energy Savings Obligation Scheme. Among the project partners is also the Bulgarian National Trust Eco Fund. Their aim is to improve the environmental impacts of its investments.

View on Bulgarian street, photo: Center for Energy Efficiency EnEffect

To this end, EcoTrust is developing a financing scheme that requires both the implementation and monitoring of energy management practices from investees. They thus encourage the implementation of the newly developed energy management systems.

Background

Up until recently, systematic energy management has been non-existent in Bulgarian municipalities. While in many European countries, municipal energy management systems in compliance with the ISO 50001 standard is a well-established practice, Bulgaria has only a few small municipalities for which this is the case.
In addition, current municipal energy efficiency projects in Bulgaria are mostly dependent on excessive grant financing and rarely require proper monitoring of the achieved results. Private investment is rare: the lack of reliable data and monitoring mechanisms prevents potential investors from building trust. The project provides the necessary conditions for the stable transition from grant-based financing to sustainable financing mechanisms.