MVP Plus Kick-off Work-shop in Podgorica

The GIZ ORF-EE held its MVP Plus Kick-off Work-shop in Podgorica, Montenegro from 26 to 27 February, 2019. The event provided an opportunity for a detailed presentation of the new ORF-EE project ‘Strengthening the Cooperation Between National and Local Level in South-East Europe for Sustainable Development of Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection Measures’ (MVP Plus) and upcoming activities.

The Kick-off Work-shop brought together representatives of ministries, agencies, funds and other institutions responsible and active in the energy efficiency (EE) and climate sector in six Western Balkan partner countries, including GIZ representatives.

The first day of the event was dedicated to discussions and presentations on the monitoring and reporting system for energy efficiency in South-East Europe (SEE), reflecting on future steps within the MVP Plus project. Second day of the event featured a Training on the Monitoring and Verification Platform (MVP), an online based tool for data collection and calculation of energy savings, which was originally developed by the ORF-EE and its partners in an earlier ORF-EE implementation phase.

Already in November 2018, at the Energy Community’s Energy Efficiency Coordination Group meeting, Berina Delalić-Gurda, ORF-EE Project Manager responsible for MVP Plus, announced the upcoming launch of the project, explaining that its focus will be on the upgrade of the MVP tool to fit the requirements under the Energy Efficiency Directive, as well as on its integration on municipal level.

She used the occasion in Podgorica to highlight that the mentioned approach will complement MVP’s use on national level, enabling systematic and transparent data collection for EE improvement and CO2 emission reduction measures, especially important for the development of and reporting on the implementation of National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs).

Delalić-Gurda said “The approach will help improve communication between the different administrative levels in SEE ORF-EE partner countries for more effective sector policy making.”

Marko Radulović, Director-General of the Directorate for Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Economy of Montenegro, thanked the GIZ ORF-EE for the organization of the event in Podgorica and expressed that he was very pleased to see that representatives of all six SEE ORF-EE partner countries have gathered in Podgorica, recognizing the importance of the MVP tool.

“The participation of representatives of all partner countries in today’s event is the best indicator of the need for a tool such as the MVP in our region,” Radulović highlighted. He stressed that the instrument will help SEE countries facilitate the monitoring and verification process of the implementation of national indicative energy efficiency targets.

Radulović further added that Montenegro and other SEE Energy Community contracting parties, have undertaken certain obligations to improve energy efficiency on their territory, using the opportunity to remind all present that the highest responsibility lies on the shoulders of the public sector of whom it is expected to lead the way by example, demonstrating the importance of investing efforts into promoting methods and measures for the rationalization of energy consumption, and the use of clean energy sources in SEE.

Representatives from SEE countries who attended the Workshop expressed appreciation for the provided opportunity to share their own experience and hear about the experiences of other countries when it comes to monitoring, verification and reporting of energy efficiency EE measures. They concluded that this is crucial in their attempt to target the main aspects where additional efforts are needed for setting up the data collection system, enabling final users to also get involve in the process.

In an exchange with partners, ORF-EE used the event to also agree on the following steps to be taken, scheduling the next regional workshop for June this year. It was concluded that primary energy savings calculations will be the focus topic of the next gathering.

By means of the MVP Plus project, ORF-EE will invest in the upgrade of the MVP tool, tackling some of the new reporting requirements under the EE Directive, also continuing to invest in capacity building of national staff in ministries, agencies and other institutions responsible for data collection on energy savings in SEE.

It is expected that the project will initiate a discussion on the use of the MVP database for evaluation of the effectiveness of previous EE activities, including for better planning of next policy measures. With this approach the whole EE policy cycle will be strengthened, encompassing, besides implementation, monitoring, evaluation and planning of crucial next steps.

Support for the implementation of the MVP tool in SEE is also continuously provided by the bilateral GIZ projects ‘Promotion of Energy Efficiency in BiH’ and the ‘Kosovo Energy Efficiency Project’.

The Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe – Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE) is implemented by the German development organization GIZ on behalf of the German Government.