First SMAFIN roundtable in Romania

FINANCING SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENERGY RENOVATION OF BUILDINGS

romania

Thursday 15 April 2021

Online event

Duration: 4 hrs 45min including breaks

Event organized in Romania within the Horizon2020 project SMAFIN in partnership with the Department of Sustainable Development - Government of Romania, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects and the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration. The national round table will be moderated by Mr. Gabriel Giurgiu, TV producer. The event will take place in Romanian with interpretation.

CONTEXT

  • The roundtables organized within the SMAFIN project aim to encourage a structural dialogue between Romanian key stakeholders, in order to define barriers to wider investment in renovation, in the context of discussions on energy efficiency financing, in line with national priorities and opportunities.

  • Increasing energy efficiency is assumed at European level as a cross-cutting strategic objective for protecting the environment and reducing the impact of climate change, improving the quality of life and reducing the EU’s dependence on external oil and gas suppliers. Romania has assumed ambitious objectives in the national strategic framework in the field of energy and climate change, being concerned at the current stage with identifying the best ways to promote actions and support the necessary processes both from national budgetary resources and through the financing framework available in the future from the European Green Deal and the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.

  • At the same time, it is recognized that current levels of investment in sustainable energy are not sufficient to meet Romania’s 2030 climate and energy targets, and that smart financing mechanisms are needed to support large-scale and long-term investments, especially in buildings and industry.

  • The European Commission – DG Energy organized in 2018-2019 the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums (SEIF). The positive experience gained is relevant to further identify barriers to energy efficiency financing, and to support the design of public policies in this area, as well as market solutions, attract private capital and increase investment in energy efficiency across Europe.

  • Starting by the dialogue facilitated by SEIF events, the SMAFIN project (www.smafin.eu) funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 program aims to facilitate cooperation among stakeholders within permanent dialogue forums on energy efficiency investments in buildings, infrastructure, industry and SMEs, in four countries, including Romania. Thus, the project envisages the annual organization of round tables in each of the countries participating in the project.

  • The event is organized by the Romanian partners within the project SMAFIN – ENERO – Centre for the Promotion of Clean and Efficient Energy in Romania (www.enero.ro) and Pro-nZEB – Cluster for Promoting nearly Zero Energy Buildings (www.pro-nzeb.ro) and benefits from the support of the Romanian Government through the Department for Sustainable Development, Ministry of Investments and European Projects and Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration.

  • The First Round Table organized in Romania aims to address FINANCING SOLUTIONS FOR ENERGY RENOVATION OF BUILDINGS, because this is a hot topic on the national public agenda, being structured according to the following three main topics of discussion:

    • Energy Renovation of Public Buildings
    • Integrated Home Renovation Services
    • The Long-Term Renovation Strategy- from Set-Up to Implementation

    These thematic issues took into account both the conclusions and recommendations of previous Sustainable Energy Investment Forum, but also the current challenges that Romania must face.

THEMATIC SESSIONS

Energy Renovation of Public Buildings

This session will address the issue of increasing renovation rates and the level of performance required for public buildings, in order to achieve the objectives assumed by Romania, following mainly deep energy renovation or achieving nZEB level of public buildings, including energy produced from renewable sources.

The main topics of discussion that are expected to be raised within this section are:

  • Legal framework and technical regulations
  • Previous needs and experiences, from the perspective of local authorities, experts and funders
  • Project-based financing
  • Involvement of private funding

Integrated Home Renovation Services

This session will address ways to ensure efficient, sufficient and diverse funding for the energy renovation of residential, multi- or single-family buildings, in urban or rural areas, thus ensuring compliance with national commitments in this area.

The main topics of discussion that are expected to be addressed in this section are:

  • One-stop-shop
  • Successfully applied funding schemes good practices
  • Attracting private funding for deep energy renovation

The Long-Term Renovation Strategy- From Set-Up to Implementation

This session will address the mechanisms for the effective implementation of the Long-Term Renovation Strategy, in the context created by the recently published national strategies, plans and programs.

The main topics of discussion that are expected to be addressed in this section are:

  • Governance
  • Financing mechanisms and programs
  • Monitoring

Adrian Ghiță, Executive Director, The Romanian Fund for Energy Efficiency – FREE, Solutions to finance energy efficiency projects in Romania

AGENDA
10:00 Introductory plenary (1h 15 min)
Welcome, Setting the scene, Introductory remarks/keynotes
Moderator Gabriel Giurgiu, TV Producer (TVR)
Laszlo Borbely, State Counsellor of the Prime Minister of Romania, Coordinator of the Department for Sustainable Development – Government of Romania
Tudor Constantinescu, Principal Adviser to the Director General for Energy, European Commission
Stefania Racolta-Cruceru, Head of EU Green Finance & Climate Analytics in the Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Dept., EBRD,
EBRD’s green strategy – GET 2.1.
Cristina Prună, Member of the Romanian Parliament – Vice-President Chamber of Deputies, Vice-President of the Commission for Industries and Services, Romanian Parliament
Marius-Mihai Vasiliu, State Secretary, Ministry of Investments and European Projects
Marin Țole, State Secretary, Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration,
Horia Petran, President Pro-nZEB, SMAFIN project partner,
The SMAFIN project at a glance
Moderator, Presentation of the Parallel Sessions
11:15 Coffee break
11:30 1. Thematic parallel session (1 hour 30 min)
ENERGY RENOVATION OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS
Moderator Mihai Tudorancea, Managing Director, TUD Group
Rapporteur Ion Dogeanu, Executive Director, AEEPM
Andrei Ceclan, President, Association of Auditors and Energy Managers SAMER,
Urban Energy – from opportunity to impact
Carmen Pavel, President, Association of ESCO companies,
Financing ESCOs – in the world and in the Romanian reality
Paul Șerbănescu, Head of Office Programmes Strategies, Environmental Fund Administration
Program on increasing energy efficiency and intelligent energy management in public buildings for schools
Mihai Tudorancea, Managing Director, TUD Group,
Experiences from D6EEPB – District 6 Energy Efficiency for Public Buildings
12:10 Q&A, DISCUSSIONS
13:00 Coffee break
11:30 2. Thematic parallel session (1 hour 30 min)
INTEGRATED HOME RENOVATION SERVICES
Moderator Dumitru Chisăliță, President, Association Intelligent Energy
Rapporteur Manuela Draghicescu, SUNE
Sergiu Oprescu, Executive President Alpha Bank Romania, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Romanian Association of Banks
Green Financing & Energy Efficient Mortgage Initiative Label
Giovanni Vicentini, Municipality of Padova,
PadovaFIT Expanded: a project for boosting the energy refurbishment of private buildings
Mark Velody, GEFF Project Manager, Romania – EBRD Green Economy Financing Facility, Tractebel,
EBRD’s residential Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) in Romania – experience and lessons learnt
Andrei Botiș, President, Romania Green Building Council ROGBC,
SMARTER Finance for Families – a European initiative implementing green mortgages that exceed the EU Taxonomy
Mihai Mereuță, President, Liga HABITAT,
Is it possible to have an integrated approach of deep renovation process without involving homeowners?
12:10 Q&A, DISCUSSIONS
13:00 Coffee break
11:30 3. Thematic parallel session (1 hour 30 min)
THE LONG-TERM RENOVATION STRATEGY – FROM SET-UP TO IMPLEMENTATION
Governance – Financial mechanisms and programs – Monitoring
Moderator Luminița Bălălău, Department for Sustainable Development – Government of Romania
Rapporteur Alexandru Mureșan, Researcher, Technical University Cluj-Napoca
Carmen Iliescu, General Direction Regional Development and Infrastructure, Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration
A long-term renovation strategy for a low emission building stock 2050
Camelia Rață, Country Expert, European City Facility – EUCF project,
First local plans for long term rehabilitation, towards climate neutral communities in Romania and EUCF
Sorin Elisei, DELOITTE Consultancy,
NRRP – how generous are energy efficiency projects in buildings?
Adrian Teban, President, Association of Cities in Romania – AOR,
Energy Efficiency for public and multi-apartment residential buildings in small and medium-sized towns
12:10 Q&A, DISCUSSIONS
13:00 Coffee break
13:15 Closing plenary (1h 30 min)
Moderator Gabriel Giurgiu
Jean-François Marchand, Senior Partner ENERGINVEST, President Belgian ESCO Association,
Public-backed Investment Platforms and Citizen Financing Schemes to scale up investments for energy efficiency in the building sector.
Remon Zakaria, Associate Director Energy Efficiency and Climate Change, EBRD,
The EBRD’s role in supporting the renovation wave
The rapporteurs present the parallel sessions summaries
14:00 Q&A, DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions and closing remarks
14:45 End of the event

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