Pilot actions in Town of Prelog included creation of citizen energy group and installation of PV power plant on a roof of local kindergarten. Successful implementation of actions included serious commitment of Towns officials and good cooperation with Medjimurje energy agency ltd (MENEA). Town of Prelog and MENEA implemented several workshops with citizens and stakeholders from 2019 until the creation of citizen energy group “Green Energy Club Prelog” in 2021. Workshops combined with other communication activities triggered involvement of citizens in local energy planning and identification of relevant measures to be implemented in towns area. Most potential with RES usage in Croatia lies in solar power. Due to this fact and inevitable raise of electricity prices it was concluded that installation of PVs supports achievement of energy transition goals. In line with that Town of Prelog considered installation of PVs on public buildings as one of core steps in becoming a sustainable town. With this in line and with continuous collaboration with citizens installation of PV power plant on kindergarten was recognized by citizens as a good community project and selected as pilot investment which benefits are seen through cost savings and GHG emission reduction. After preliminary assessment of technical conditions of roofs, Towns officials in collaboration with “Green Energy Club Prelog” decided to install PV on the roof of kindergarten “Fijolica”. The role of established citizen energy group in the process was very important and their involvement will ensure further dissemination of achieved positive environmental effects. With these pilot actions for the first time, PV power plant was installed on one of existing public buildings in town’s area and the concept of citizen energy groups was introduced to wider public. Both actions will serve as public demonstration example on how to use RE for producing electricity and how to engage citizens into local energy planning.
Installation of PV power plant resulted in many benefits for local community with great possibility of replication to other local governments and wider regional area. Firstly, general public gained relevant knowledge on possibilities in exploiting RE and decrease their carbon footprint. In addition, pilot investment with involvement of citizen energy group resulted in new collaboration between different stakeholders (citizens, local companies, local government, utility companies, designers, constructors) which will be nurtured by their further engagement in launching energy projects (electric vehicles, integrated charging stations, energy renovation of public and private buildings ...) through available funding sources. With the possibility to show how PVs function, the interest of citizens no matter their socio-economic background was evoked. Installed PV power plant will reduce emissions and take the town step closer in realizing SECAP goals and becoming greener and sustainable town.
Since the kindergarten’s building was energy refurbished within the last two years, with this additional installation of a PV power plant, it became a good example of a building with increased energy efficiency which will consequently create a better working environment for kindergarten staff and affect the quality of service to citizens and their children. One important driver for launching energy projects on local level in the future by established citizen energy group are finances. Energy related projects, especially those including investment involve generous energy resources and often local budgets cannot cover the full cost of the investment, so additional sources of funding need to be sought. This process often demotivates local government employees and hampers the implementation of similar investments in the future. Nevertheless, the sustainability of such investments is in many cases conditional by large extent on the available funding sources.