Posted on : 6/7/2017

In the period from 24 to 25 May 2017, a study visit to Slovakia was organised on the topic of financing energy efficiency projects for representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, Ministry of Finance and the Provincial Secretariat for Energy and Mineral Resources.

Study visit to Slovakia was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) within the project “Removing Barriers to Promote and Support Energy Management Systems in Municipalities throughout Serbia”, Embassy of the Slovak Republic and the Slovakian Innovation and Energy Agency (SIEA).

The aim of the visit was to familiarize the experts from the institutions of the Republic of Serbia with Slovak experience in relation to the work of the national fund for energy rehabilitation of buildings and the use of EU structural funds for financing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. On that occasion experts from Serbia visited the Slovakian Innovation and Energy Agency, Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, the line ministry for energy, the office of the State Housing Fund  Development, and the Building Testing and Research Institute.

Slovakian Innovation and Energy Agency is a specialized agency established in 1993 to perform professional activities in the field of energy. Today the agency, as the executive body of the Ministry of Economy has 266 employees who are engaged in the implementation and monitoring of projects on energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources to be financed from EU structural funds and the national budget.  SIEA also participates in the implementation of European and other international projects in the field of energy (e.g. Intelligent Energy - Europe, Odyssee-Mure, Multee, Green Gas Grids, etc.). SIEA also implements the National Strategy for Innovations, carries out inspection tasks in the field of energy, delivers trainings to persons who perform energy audits, conducts energy audits in buildings and industry, provides advisory services to building owners and users, informs and carries out public awareness campaigns, monitors energy savings according to the National Action Plan and provides support to local authorities in energy planning. SIEA has headquarters in Bratislava and four branch offices in the cities of Trencin, Banska Bystrica and Kosice covering all municipalities in Slovakia. SIEA is currently conducting a third seven-year cycle of activities and the total value of funded projects will reach 2.9 billion EUR in 2020.

During their visit to the Ministry of Economy, study tour participants learned about the national energy policy and legislation in the field of energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. They also obtained information regarding the fulfilment of national goals on final energy savings and the share of renewable energy in the national energy mix. Slovakia is currently conducting the fourth national Energy Efficiency Action Plan for the period from 2017 to 2019.

During their visit to the Institute for Building Testing and Research Institute, participants received information on activities performed by the Institute, among which the most important were the certification of construction products, energy certification of buildings and management systems certification. The Institute also performs testing of construction products, designing and licence issuing for the performance of certain tasks in the construction industry. Institute is accredited for various engineering measurements (noise, vibration, blow door test, thermal imaging, etc.). This Institute provides technical support for the implementation of energy efficiency projects in buildings by performing specialized engineering tests.

Study visit participants were hosted by the Office of the State Housing Development Fund, which had already been financing projects on energy rehabilitation of residential and public buildings in Slovakia for 20 years. The Fund is managed by the Slovak Ministry of Construction and Regional Development. In 2015 198.3 million EUR were approved and from 1996 to 2016 a total of 210,430 flats out of the total housing fund, which has about 900,000 units, were rehabilitated. In total, the Fund has 70 employees. Representatives of the Fund explained the complete mechanism for the allocation of funds, viable project types, methods of project application by building owners, criteria for granting loans, lending conditions, methods for monitoring the implementation of projects and evaluation of energy savings upon implementation of measures.