Building the collective capability of the ACE

partners

Staff Exchange

Each block portrays an Ace ‘champion’, this reports aims at joining them.

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Table of contents

Table of contents.....................................................................................................3

Version....................................................................................................................3

I. Introduction.....................................................................................................4

II. Collective offer & demand partnership ACE..................................................5

A. Partnership opportunities ........................................................................5

B. approach staff exchange..........................................................................5

C. results staff exchange..............................................................................8

III. Final notes.....................................................................................................16

Version

Version Date Who Partner What

1 9 July 2015 X.van Lipzig Apeldoorn concept

2 G. Mallet/ E.

Giltenane

NEF/

Codema

Some remarks

3 28 July 2015 X. van Lipzig Apeldoorn

4 29 July 2015 X. van Lipzig Apeldoorn Nr. 11 dcc/tea, nr. 6 NEF/ RegenSW

added. Nr. 3 NEF/Codema

5 29 July 2015 E. Giltenane Codema Minor changes

6 29 July 2015 X. van Lipzig Apeldoorn Final

Doc:

J:\EnergieNeutraal\ENERGIENEUTRAAL v2\PROJECTEN V2\ACE\Uitvoering\WP2\action 4 staff

exchange\ACE_WP2_results staff exchange_Apeldoorn nl_version 6 final.doc

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I. Introduction

The ACE project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund

(INTERREG IVB NWE Programme) and includes 10 partners from 5 different

countries: Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium and France. The

project aims to promote and implement the uptake of sustainable energy in North

West Europe.

The aim of ACE project is to promote and implement the uptake of sustainable

energy in North West Europe. The first topic of cooperation focused on building

the collective capability of the partnership.

To enhance the level of innovation and competiveness across NWE, ACE is built

on the strengths and successes of the partners (and observers) and will provide co-

ordination for support, transfer of knowledge, mentoring and training.

Regarding the experiences of the partners of ACE, it has been shown that the

partnership as a whole is stronger than any individual partner. A strong and well-

equipped base of knowledge is available within our partnership. However, some

capabilities have been strengthened during the lifetime of the ACE project.

This report is focused on the staff exchange.

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II. Collective offer & demand partnership ACE

A. PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

The main interest of partners in gaining experience or knowledge from the

partnership:

- Financial mechanisms

- Planning & implementation

- RES - techniques (biomass/gas and photovoltaics)

B. APPROACH STAFF EXCHANGE

The Staff exchanges were ‘demand-driven’ and the process was, in fact, quite

simple and practical. A standard template for reporting was used.

Figure 1: Proces Staff Exchange: Simple & Practical

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Figure 2: Page 1 of template document for reporting on staff exchanges

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Figure 3: Page 2 of template document for reporting on staff exchanges

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C. RESULTS STAFF EXCHANGE

Staff Exchange 1 Apeldoorn -ZKF

Xandra van Lipzig of Gemeente Apeldoorn participated in the judgement process

and judgement panel of the competition of ZKF (Zeeuws Climate Fund). This

experience enabled Apeldoorn to organize in few months the “village

competition” in Apeldoorn. The quality of the nominees in the competition at

ZKF enforced Apeldoorn’s ideas about the power of community projects; that

active civilians can launch plans and will execute it - community project will

make the difference.

Figure 4: Staff Exchange 1 -

Apeldoorn learned and

copied competition

experiences from ZKF.

“Community projects will

make the difference”.

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Staff Exchange 2 TEA - Codema

Codema’s marketing and communications team; Suzanne Fitzpatrick

(Communications Manager), Aine McCarthy (Project Marketing Officer) and

Verena Wagner (Digital Marketing) provided mentoring to Catherine Wall of

Tipperary Energy Agency during the second staff exchange. The Codema team

covered an extensive list of topics with Catherine, including the creation of

communication and marketing strategies, event management, campaign

development, community engagement, sponsorship, media management, writing

press releases, marketing of energy projects, digital marketing and website

management

Figure 5: Staff Exchange 2 - Structured approach for communication and

marketing staff exchange

Staff Exchange 3 NEF - Codema

Alexandra Steeland, Project Officer of National Energy Foundation (NEF) went

to Ireland. There are two goals for the visit: firstly to learn about the planning,

organisation and running of Codema’s energy awareness engagement campaign

for local authority staff, and

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secondly to learn about EU project management. This will be aided by coinciding

the visit with the energy awareness week run by Codema for Dublin City Council

staff, enabling learning from first-hand experience of the running of an

engagement event.

Codema’s energy awareness event at Dublin City Council provided inspiration for

NEF’s community engagement work. The variety of the offer at the event was of

particular interest, providing new ideas and examples of ways to engage different

people. The mix of interactive activities, competitions, prizes, live demonstrations

and educational materials worked well and could be easily replicated or adapted

to appeal to different audiences. Other aspects of Codema’s Think Energy

campaign1, such as the walkabout surveys by Energy Ambassadors, were also

relevant.

Insights were provided into Codema’s wealth of experience of EU projects and

project management. Key lessons highlighted included identifying and standing

by a particular market position, assessing technical readiness levels and

developing selection criteria for projects. Ace project management specifically

was covered in depth, providing a thorough understanding of reporting and

financial requirements.

Taking part in the energy awareness event was a great way to learn from

Codema’s engagement activities; nothing beats experiencing how initiatives are

working in practice. Learning about Codema’s EU project management helped to

guide NEF’s involvement in and management of projects within and outside of

Ace.

Staff Exchange 4 NEF - Dublin City Council

There were two goals for the visit: firstly to learn about Dublin City Council’s

approach to energy management and promoting sustainable energy, and secondly

to learn about the planning, organisation and delivery of the smart energy

citizens’ plaza investment.

“The installation of PV panels on the Civic Offices and the Lord Mayor’s

residence were particularly interesting demonstrations of how local authorities

can set an example and encourage action within the wider community. The visit

enabled key lessons to be learned about the role of local authorities in delivering

sustainable energy projects, engaging the community and encouraging action

by citizens, as well as potential triggers, barriers and opportunities to be aware

of when working on projects”.

Staff Exchange 5 Codema - TEA

Joe Hayden of Codema took the road to Tipperary to participate in and learn

about a procurement process involving the competitive dialogue procedure used

by Tipperary Energy Agency in the procurement of services for the large scale

refurbishment of a number of domestic dwellings.

1 http://www.codema.ie/media/gallery/think-energy-awareness-days/

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“The Competitive Dialogue process is not widely used in Ireland so experience in

this process is invaluable as Codema are currently preparing to use competitive

dialogue in an upcoming Energy Performance Contracting project. Codema also

intends to use this procurement approach in future energy projects in Dublin”.

Staff Exchange 6 NEF – RegenSW

Gabby Mallett, Director of Households and Communities, National Energy

Foundation visited RegenSW, The Innovation Centre to learn about the awards

ceremony, how it is planned, organised and run on the day. The learning: “There

is still more work to be done to get the full benefit of the learning. The event itself

was clearly very well organised. As a regular event being run in a subsequent

year it was obvious that many of the RegenSW staff were well versed in the event

and knew exactly what they were doing”.

Staff Exchange 7 NEF - Les 7 Vents

Gabby Mallett visited also the French partner. National Energy Foundation and

Les 7 Vents will now investigate ways of working together in the future. This is

most likely to be regarding energy efficiency in buildings, supporting those in

fuel poverty, building linked micro-renewables and providing advice and support

to homeowners, rather than regarding off-site or large scale renewables.

Figure 6: Staff Exchange 7 - " It was already clear that the two organisations are very

similarly constituted and have a surprising overlap in skills, knowledge and

experience.”

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Staff Exchange 8 Codema - NEF

Verena Brennan, Marketing Officer, Codema was interested in NEF and how the

foundation engages with communities by promoting energy efficiency and the

uptake of renewable energy through different programmes. The focus was on

marketing activities and training facilitation. The visit to both the Council

building and the SuperHome2 in London showed that these local energy

champions have now taken on a role for themselves to promote the energy saving

message and many similarities and ideas could be drawn from these examples for

adaptation in Dublin and the rest of Ireland.

Figure 7: Staff Exchange 8 –

"SuperHomes programme, its

values in terms of energy

awareness raising and knowledge

transfer’

�

2 http://www.superhomes.org.uk/superhomes/london-camden-belsize-park-gardens-the-

coach-house/ � http://www.superhomes.org.uk/superhomes/thornborough-bridge-st-the-firs/ � http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk/news/2013/mar/energy-saving-measures-pay-off-

improved-performance/

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Staff Exchange 9 Gelderland- NEF

On behalf of province Gelderland, Irma Koster

participated also in the staff exchange with NEF.

Dale Hoyland, Local Authority Services Manager

at NEF, explained the current thinking on climate

change, training for energy champions with

innovative tools for improving access, and

methods of promoting citizen engagement.

Figure 8: Staff Exchange 9 - Irma Koster listening

to explanations on climate change.

Staff Exchange 10 Les 7 Vents- ZKF

Les 7 Vents visited the ZKF, Zeeuws Climate Fund, to learn about a voluntary

carbon offset fund for the Dutch province of Zeeland (the land of the sea). The

natural or legal persons that produce carbon emissions can offset them by funding

actions for the reduction of carbon emissions. The carbon fund is an intermediary

between two parties. It collects the funds from emitters and provides them to

reducers.

ZKF members are companies and public authorities wishing to offset their

emissions by supporting local actions against global warming. Each of the 30

members of ZKF pay an annual fee. Stars are assigned based on their

commitment to reduce their emissions using the following criteria:

1. commit verbally,

2. have analyzed its carbon emissions,

3. have a plan to achieve a reduction in emissions by 10%,

4. compensate 30% of its emissions through the voluntary compensation fund,

5. compensate 100% of its emissions through the voluntary compensation fund.

Recently, the emission factors were harmonized in Holland, and the main carbon

funds use a national site to estimate emissions from common factors and

methodology. The main problem today for the fund is competing with certified

carbon credits. To offset one tonne of CO2, ZKF request 25 euros. International

Gold Standard carbon

credits are generally sold around 15 euros per tonne. A recent involvement of the

world of finance in such initiatives, in particular on the market for voluntary

carbon credits sold from 5 to 10 euros (especially coming from landfill gas

recovery initiatives in the United States, or wind turbine in Taiwan). The

protection and valorisation of local carbon credit nationwide will be particularly

discussed in the framework of the future green deal for Holland.

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Of the 25 euros charged, 5 euros are spent for the management of the fund and 20

euros are reinvested, mostly in the form of grants for the purchase of photovoltaic

panels. A procedure exists with a form, and the stress is not to make the time to

return on investment less than 5 years for companies, and 10 years for individuals

(which are excluded from the system now because payback time on PV

investment facilities for individuals are 7 years on average today in Holland).

“A local fuel provider accepted in partnership with the ZKF to:

• Set a special tariff for fuel integrating 2 cents extra per litre for the

consumer (through one dedicated green labelled pump)

• For each litre, the fuel retailer will be adding 3 cents and refund in total

5 cents per litre to the climate fund. “

Staff Exchange 11 DCC- TEA

The staff exchange focused on learning more about the procurement of PV

installations, fabric upgrades and heat pumps. The staff exchange with TEA

provided useful tools, knowledge and experience which were shared and have

helped DCC in the implementation of their own upgrade programmes. More

details are available on request.

Staff Exchange 12 Regen SW - Codema

Jodie Giles of Regen SW talked to Codema and South Dublin Council about

smart grid projects and attended the launch the 5 cube. This fitted perfectly in the

talk about Regen’s arts and energy programme. The visit to the Dublin City

Council energy fair inspired and gave ideas for Renewable Energy Marketplace

and other Regen community engagement events.

Figure 9: Staff Exchange 12 - About Arts and Energy: The 5 Cube in Dublin

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Staff Exchange 13 Regen SW- TEA

Jodie Giles of Regen SW and her colleagues talked to TEA about grid projects,

arts and energy and potential future collaborations. “We learned a bit more about

the sorts of projects they do including community energy projects in Ireland and

the Green Paper they have been involved in developing that puts forward

recommendations to the Irish government on future policy for community energy

in Ireland. We also talked about engagement and our arts and energy

programme”.

They have agreed to stay in touch with TEA and now understand more about each

others’ respective organisations so are more aware of how they can collaborate in

the future. They will be talking to DECC about the Green paper for Ireland and

the recommendations in particular to positively discriminate for community

energy groups to get grid access.

Figure 10: Staff Exchange 13 - Talking about future collaboration.

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III. Final notes

Due to project commitment to “Staff Exchange”, mobility of regional energy

Champions improved. In this project we have established a process for exchange

of skills and knowledge within North West Europe. Partners are meeting each

other right now and investigate further opportunities in EU/ INTERREG projects

(eg. Self). Partners improved skills to deliver support to RES regionally. These

skills are in the field of communication, marketing but also on business models

and procurement systems as the competitive dialogue.

This helped to enhanced credibility as energy Champions. Many of these

experiences resulted in fantastic nominees in a great final of the Ace Awards

Ceremony in November 2014.

These 13 staff exchanges between partners are just the start. It is very likely that

mentoring will on going and Ace-partners will definitely meet again on the

European Energy Arena!