Braslav receives €600,000 for energy-saving project

Braslav has received a new grant in the amount of €600,000 to develop energy-saving technologies under the Covenant of Mayors initiative, BelTA learned from deputy chairman of the Braslav District Executive Committee Andrei Davydenko.

The Covenant of Mayors (or the Agreement of Mayors) is a large project whose participants seek to promote sustainable energy development and economical use of fuel resources. Signatories to the covenant are 5,000 cities around the world. Braslav was the seventh town in Belarus to join the agreement. According to the project, all cities voluntarily undertake the "20-20-20" commitments: to cut carbon emissions by 20%, to reduce energy consumption by 20% and to increase the share of renewable energy by 2020. Each city - signatory to the agreement develops a sustainable energy action plan, which includes a number of measures to reduce the consumption of resources, while maintaining the comfortable living standards.

Having signed the Covenant of Mayors, Braslav participated in a tender for a grant of the European Commission under the program "Support for the European Partnership cities in implementing the sustainable energy action plan within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors initiative. As a result, on 30 December Braslav District signed a grant contract with the European Commission. Its project "Braslav District - the first carbon neutral municipality in Belarus" suggests that by 2030 its CO2 emissions will be at such a level that will be fully offset by the sources of oxygen. The total budget of the project amounts to €735,000, of which €600,000 is the European money. Terms of implementation is 30 months, with the active phase beginning in May 2015.

During this period the district is expected to undertake studies on the use of renewable energy, assess various energy-saving equipment and purchase it, to implement a number of demonstration projects. "For example, we want to install two 1.5MW boilers running on straw that remains in fields after harvest. More than 1km of heating systems will be replaced, solar panels installed on the roofs of kindergartens for autonomous water heating. Another demonstration project will be the installation of the heat exchanger in a high-rise which has no central heating. The doorways will be fitted with sound and movement sensor, street lighting we will be partially replaced with LED lights and so on,” said Andrei Davydenko.

Braslav has taken stock of another energy saving project. It was aimed at promoting energy-saving technologies and renewable energy at the local level. It was launched back in 2012, with the support of the non-profit organization Center for Environmental Solutions and the European financial assistance. The project included many activities ranging from seminars and study tours to the neighboring countries to gain experience in the use of renewable energy to demonstration projects. For example, the old boiler in the Braslav Local History Museum was replaced with a new energy-efficient one. This project was designed to show all the benefits of investment in energy-saving equipment which, though more expensive than the conventional one, pays back the cost over time and is more environmentally friendly and safe. The plan of action concluded with another demonstration project: solar panels were mounted on the roof of the children’s and youth sports school of Braslav District.

"The reduction in energy consumption is one of the few articles of the local budget which expenditures can be reduced significantly. So far, our enterprises and organizations have not had a clear system of assessing the potential solutions for the reduction of energy consumption and losses in energy delivery networks to end users. Therefore, the development of local energy and climate plans is an important task. This is why Braslav joined the Covenant of Mayors in February 2014,” explained Andrei Davydenko.

He added that the new project will be a direct continuation of this work. We begin to implement a strategic plan to reduce CO2 by using energy-saving technologies, improving the municipal services and involving locals in these processes and sharing the best practices to other districts, he noted. "We want to show the renewable energy opportunities. Water, sun and other sources can help us significantly reduce energy consumption. Our district already has quite a few such examples. Their promotion and understanding of how they can be applied is important because energy prices are constantly rising,” said Andrei Davydenko.