Join EBRD webinar to rethink district energy systems in COVID-19 age

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is organizing a live session titled “Resilient, low carbon district energy in the age of COVID-19” on June 30.

Following the success of the EBRD’s conference on district heating and cooling systems organized in Belgrade last December and the publication of the paper COVID-19: Challenges and opportunities in the district energy sector by Greg Gebrail and Bojan Bogdanović, Bank’s experts on district energy systems, the webinar will move beyond the immediate impacts of the pandemic and focus on how investment in reliability, decarbonization, and network expansion can contribute to a resilient recovery and economic stimulus, EBRD said.

The purpose of this webinar is to explore how the district energy (DE) sector can ensure a resilient, low carbon energy supply that helps city dwellers breathe cleaner air through the current crisis and beyond.

Specific points to be discussed include:

• How to strengthen networks and mitigate risks to supply interruption in the face of an expected re-emergence of COVID-19 this winter;
• The role of increased automation and digitalization and how it can contribute to resilience;
• Maintaining momentum on decarbonization in the face of low fossil fuel prices and economic crises;
• The correlation between levels of urban pollution and death rates from COVID-19 and how investment in DE can improve urban air quality;
• Transforming urban cooling and reducing its environmental impact.

Who should attend?

The webinar’s target audience is senior managers, executives, policymakers and professionals working in the district energy sector; the EBRD is particularly keen to encourage participation from utility operators, regulators, municipal and government departments, other multilateral development banks, engineering consultancies, original equipment manufacturers, the private sector and civil society organizations. Here you can register for the webinar.

Speakers and panelists:

• Nandita Parshad – Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Group (SIG), European Bank
  for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• Greg Gebrail – District Energy Sector Specialist, SIG, EBRD
• Bojan Bogdanović – Fund Manager, Renewable District Energy in the Western Balkans Fund
  (ReDEWeB), EBRD
• Lily Riahi – Head of District Energy in Cities Initiative, United Nations Environment Programme
• Paul Voss – Managing Director, Euroheat and Power (International network for the district
  energy sector, headquartered in Brussels)
• Susan Goeransson –Director, Head of Infra-Europe (EBRD), Expert in financing infrastructure
  projects
• Oddgeir Gudmundsson – Director, District Energy Europe, Danfoss (Major Danish
  manufacturer of district energy equipment)
• Dušan Macura – head of the heat production and distribution at public heating utility Novosadska Toplana, (The district heating utility serving
  Novi Sad, the 2nd biggest city in Serbia).