Posted on : 5/23/2016

The operational implementation of the project “Removing Barriers to Promote and Support Energy Management Systems in Municipalities (EMS) throughout Serbia” began on December 14, 2015 when the workshop on introducing energy management in local self-governments was held in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.

The workshop was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Mining and Energy (MoME) who implement this project in partnership, and in cooperation with a range of relevant institutions. The representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, UNDP, German Development Bank (KfW), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Agency for Transactions and Mediation in Immovable Properties (ATMIP) and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) who participated in this workshop presented not only the project, but also the complementary activities in the country and in the region.

The objective of the project “Removing Barriers to Promote and Support Energy Management Systems in Municipalities (EMS) throughout Serbia”, financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UNDP, is to introduce and support the implementation of municipal Energy Management Systems (EMS), including Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS), throughout Serbia in order to increase the energy efficiency investments in public buildings and municipal services and to facilitate their energy efficient operation, all in line with the provisions of the Law on Efficient Use of Energy.

While the minimum target is to have at least 30 Serbian municipalities to formally adopt and start the implementation of EMS and EMIS by December 2020 when the Project should end, it also seeks to facilitate their replication in other Serbian municipalities. Complementary activities will include the preparation of energy efficiency projects in municipal buildings/facilities (technical identification, energy audits, elaboration of investment packages, etc.) along with the implementation of 0.5 mill US$ grant for 10 energy efficiency demonstration projects in municipal buildings/facilities. The grant will be combined with the Budgetary Fund for Energy Efficiency and implemented by the MoME in close cooperation with UNDP.

In addition, the Project will include extensive capacity building of municipalities and advocacy in the field of energy efficiency, as well as further development of EMIS and the development of auxiliary software tools of less complexity aimed at specific tasks of municipal energy management.

The Project Document and the Letter of Agreement on joint project implementation between Ministry of Mining and Energy on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and UNDP were signed in October this year. With 2.5 m US$ of direct financing from the GEF and UNDP, the Project is expected to have a total volume of 22 m US$. Co-financing will be provided by Serbian institutions, JICA and KfW.

Workshop agenda

Presentations from the workshop:

1 UNDP-GEF EE Project MRE Miloš Banjac NPD 14 12 2015

2 UNDP-GEF EE Project MRE Antonela Solujić 14 12 2015

3 UNDP-GEF EE Project MRE Dimitrije Lilić 14 12 2015

4 UNDP-GEF EE Project Goran Cacic UNDP Croatia 14 12 2015

5 UNDP-GEF EE Project Marin Mastilica APN Croatia 14 12 2015

6 UNDP-GEF EE Project JICA Dragan Urošević 14 12 2015

7 UNDP-GEF EE Project KfW Darko Ivković 14 12 2015

8 UNDP-GEF EE Project SKGO Miodrag Gluščević 14 12 2015