Croatia
Green Energy Cooperative
Varaždin
Green Energy Cooperative (ZEZ) is engaging citizens in the energy transition as they are the pillars of the shift towards sustainable development and use of green energy.
"To fully involve people in the energy transition, you need to know their needs and struggles. And the only way to do that is to engage with them directly. It means getting out there, in the community."
The goal of the REDREAM project is to enable greater consumer engagement (within the residential, industrial, and tertiary sectors) in the energy market, through an open platform that allows direct communication between different actors. Addressing this challenge requires the use of advanced IT tools and services, to successfully respond to demand and improve the predictability of consumption patterns and consumer behaviour.
The project innovation will be demonstrated at 4 demonstration sites in Europe (Spain, Italy, the UK and Croatia). In Croatia, the demo site will be the City of Varazdin.
Changes in consumer behaviour will be monitored and encouraged through the use of smart devices, i.e. smart meter devices for household appliances, and controllers for heat or cooling in industrial plants. These devices will be provided by the Green Energy Cooperative for citizen-owners of small solar power plants and organizations that will participate in research as part of the project.
Key project activities:
- Reducing energy bills by installing smart devices
- Networking and user interaction through an open platform
- Strengthening the local community through the involvement of people in the energy transition
- Increasing energy efficiency and environmental protection
- Giving citizens a major role in the energy transition by changing user behaviour
Varazdin is the city of baroque, young people, music, flowers, bicycles and vibrancy. “Little Vienna” with a rich natural legacy interwoven in parks, located in northern Croatia on the banks of the River Drava, is the capital of Varazdin county, one of the oldest in Croatia. The city with its 9 surrounding settlements has a population of almost of 47,000, making it ideal for testing and implementing innovative tools and maximizing local impact.
In mid-2019, Green Energy Cooperative (ZEZ), in collaboration with the city of Varazdin, started a community led project to install PV systems in a residential area.. Local authorities, citizens and local entrepreneurs will be gathered by the ZEZ to develop and implement resilient business models.
Varaždin
Facts & Figures
Solar Club is an initiative supported by the ZEZ where people can learn, help, share experience and knowledge about the solar energy
Easy and quick administrative process for instalment of the PV system (link: NaSunčanojStrani)
“We still cannot store in large quantities of renewable energy, such as solar, and this makes their use less efficient. We want to encourage consumers to help in this, by adopting new energy habits. We will achieve this with the help of digital tools, but also through opportunities for additional education on energy efficiency. The project will include consumers within the residential, industrial and tertiary sectors. It aims to act comprehensively in promoting energy efficiency in one location - in this case in the city of Varazdin. The energy transition requires us to change our thinking, to find new ways to engage with consumers so that they consume less energy.. Through this project, our goal is help design such solutions in Croatia."
Lucija Nađ
Project manager from the Green Energy Cooperative.
How can I participate in the project?
Green Energy Cooperative, a social enterprise that helps citizens, companies and the public sector in the transition to renewable energy sources, in the City of Varazdin in the next three years (2020-2023) will test innovative energy efficiency models in the use of renewable energy sources, in within the projects of the European program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020. The models are based on monitoring energy consumption and encouraging changes in consumer behaviour, which can achieve savings in their own consumption, but also affect the efficient use of renewable energy sources.
