Topical Information

In the period October 28-30, 2024, a delegation from eight Bulgarian municipalities visited the Greek municipality of Kozani, among them the mayors of the municipalities of Dimitrovgrad and Opan - Ivo Dimov and Gencho Kolev, the chairmen of the municipal councils of Radnevo and Galabovo - Ilia Iliev and Svetla Boyancheva, deputy the mayors of the municipalities of Nova Zagora - Nina Gencheva and Ivanka Mihova, Dimitrovgrad - Svetoslav Stoykov, Radnevo - Temenujka Sotirova, Galabovo - Plamen Barakov, Opan - Dafinka Gospodinova, as well as management personnel and experts from the municipalities of Pernik, Kyustendil and Bobov dol.

The purpose of the visit was to build capacity and exchange experience in the area of ​​the transition to carbon neutrality. The event was hosted by the mayor of Kozani Municipality - Ioannis Kokaliaris. He presented to the participants the municipality's work in the transition from a region heavily reliant on lignite to one using clean energy.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Kokaliaris emphasized that he hopes we all "leave here enriched with experience and with new ideas for the future of our municipalities". In his presentation, he pointed out that Kozani is the largest municipality in the region of Western Macedonia and a major energy and communication hub. Before the decarbonisation measures and the abandonment of lignite coal, Kozani produced about 2.2% of Greece's GDP, or nearly 4 billion euros. The municipality provided about 75% of the electricity needs for the whole country.

Currently, the population of the municipality is 67,000 people with an aging profile, compared to other regions in Greece. The closure of coal plants has an impact on all economic sectors, with a serious drop in investment activity. More than 9,400 workers will be affected directly, while indirectly the number will be 35,000 or about 40% of the population.

Mayor Kokaliaris stressed that "the transition without taking measures risks leading to long-term unemployment for the entire population of the region and will affect a large part of the self-employed" and added that there is a real risk to the soon-to-be-built major infrastructure projects, as well as the skills and production experience, to be lost.

"For us, things are simple, the energy transition is not FOR the citizens, it has to happen WITH the citizens", concluded the mayor of Kozani and put in the foreground the commitment at the local level and the taking of urgent measures.

The director of the Western Macedonia Bioeconomy and Environment Cluster (Clube), Falas Janis, presented highlights of the Municipality's Climate Neutrality Agreement, signed in 2023 as part of the EU's mission for climate neutral and smart cities. The cluster is the main coordinator of the Agreement, working actively both to maintain the energy community in Kozani and to raise funding, through participation in projects and programs and other initiatives.

Clube has so far secured a budget of €25.5 million for 2024. It is estimated that €858 million will be needed to fulfill the contract, resulting in an 80.3% reduction in carbon emissions to 2030. The most expensive is the transition in the field of energy with 77% of all costs, but also a reduction in emissions by 61%. It is followed by the transport and mobility sector with 22% costs and 18% reduction in emissions.

Despite their small direct contribution, Mr. Yanis shared that smart solutions and applications in urban environments can indirectly support much of the effort to reduce the carbon footprint.

A central element of their efforts is the "greening of central heating" and the replacement of the current fuel source with RES by 2030. In the field of renewable energy generation, a major project is the construction of a 7 MW photovoltaic park. The idea is to cover the needs of Kozani in the public sector - public buildings and street lighting.

The Bulgarian participants asked whether the generated energy will be sufficient for all needs, including street lighting, as well as whether the construction of storage batteries is planned. On the part of the hosts, it was indicated that the figures show a need for 13.5 MW to cover the street lighting as well, and with additional activities and projects to replace the lighting fixtures with more energy-efficient ones and improve the energy efficiency of the buildings, 10 will be needed. 5 MW.

Like the Bulgarian municipalities, in Greece the emphasis is placed on the energy efficiency of the buildings, as well as the provision of low-emission public transport. Several pilot projects for hydrogen transport are being developed, with a station already built, but prices are still too high for mass use. There are also pilot studies on the use of hydrogen for central heating.

Waste management also occupies an important place in the climate neutrality treaty. The municipal company DIADYMA is an example of one of the largest inter-municipal collaborations in the country. Currently, 13 municipalities from the region of Western Macedonia are shareholders in the company. The main objective of the company is the design, implementation and operation of the regional integrated waste management system, with the application of sustainable management methods. The company serves 255,000 residents and processes 96,000 tons of waste annually, having 10 local units and 1 central waste management facility. The company collects and separates 4 streams of recyclable packaging materials (paper, plastic, metals and glass), which in numerical terms is 18,000 tons of packaging as of 2020.

Over the years, the local unit in Kozani from a transshipment site has developed and today has a reuse center. Anyone can drop off or pick up appliances at the center for free. In order to ease the process and grow the network, an online platform has also been built, and for each product left or taken, points are given, which can be redeemed for small promotional items of the company or used as vouchers in some stores.

Regarding the central facility, the first site, which started operations in 2005, is now closed and operates only for the production of energy from biogas. An interesting project is also the use of biodegradable waste for compost, which is subsequently used to restore soils where there were quarries. The quality of the compost is not yet good enough for agricultural use.

Regarding reuse centers, 6 are currently operating. The results of their activity show that more than 41,000 items have found reuse. Some of these centers have been converted into repair centers.

Another innovative project is the collection of used fats and oils in households. 15 special machines collect the liquids, with 1,000 households currently participating. A system has been developed with an online platform for collecting points, which is also linked to that in the reuse centers.

The municipality also works with DIADYMA on information campaigns for residents with the aim of separate collection, including in rural areas - from more effective waste management, to more efficient irrigation and the use of low-emission machines.

As part of the plans to reduce emissions, a number of activities for the central heating system, as well as for the functioning of the water supply, are foreseen.

The municipal company DEYAK presented its activities. Since 1985, it has operated, maintained, built and managed the water supply and sewerage networks in Kozani, and since 1993 the central heating system.

Water supply in Kozani is carried out through 28 aqueducts, which are administratively divided into 3 groups, fed by various springs, wells and boreholes. The total length of the external water supply networks of the municipality is 330,000 m.

When asked by the Bulgarian delegation about the plans of the municipal leadership in Kozani to build batteries to store energy produced by RES, the hosts replied that all the water in the municipality comes from boreholes at a depth of at least 250 meters, which requires the use of a serious amount of energy for pumping it out. Given the continuous need for energy to pump water from deep wells, there will likely be a shortage. But even on days when there is a glut of energy, there is the possibility, through hydro facilities, that it can be stored and used when needed.

Currently, there are 9 pumping stations where the water treatment itself is carried out. A modern center for remote management of both the water supply and heating networks has been created and is functioning. The company also uses various GIS solutions to monitor leaks and malfunctions, subscribers' water meters are registered in this system.

In terms of district heating, the current network supplies 5,600 buildings. The inlet temperature of the water is 27 degrees, and after heating it comes out at 70 degrees. The cycle is closed, and after its use, the water is returned to produce electricity.

The main goal of the company is to gradually switch to entirely RES sources of energy, achieving 40% of solar energy by 2030. The existing heating network will soon be connected to the new photovoltaic installations.

The program also included a panel to present the activity and structure of the NAMRB. In this regard, Ivo Dimov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of NSORB and Mayor of the Municipality of Dimitrovgrad made a short presentation, sharing about the current topics on the agenda of the municipalities in Bulgaria - switching to a new basis for the calculation of the household waste fee in 2026. the 2025 budget negotiations, as well as the Association's long-term goal of more decentralization and sharing part of the personal tax and corporate tax with the municipalities. A number of other topics of common interest to both sides were also touched upon in the discussion parts, including the territorial plans for a just transition.

In response to the questions of the Bulgarian delegation regarding the MSW model, it was stated that currently in Kozani it is calculated on the basis of area. They believe that this is not a fair model and hope that it will be changed in the coming years, moving to a pay-as-you-throw basis.

The working session on the second day ended with the presentation of the EcoZani project, which aims to offer an alternative approach to achieving a just transition by empowering the productive social capital of the city and preserving its socio-cultural identity, with the aim of combating unemployment, emigration and skills shortages, especially among young people.

The project will use a popular local annual event (Carnival in Fanoy) with strong ties to local communities, as a vehicle and testing ground for activating local ecosystems. The goal is to harness and retain talent as the event becomes the first zero-waste, zero-emission, zero-exclusion carnival.

On the last day of the event, the delegation held a closing meeting with the mayor. The desire to continue and deepen the cooperation between the participants in various spheres of common interest was indicated.

The event is organized by NAMRB in implementation of its program for 2024 of the Contact Unit of the European Urban Initiative, financed by the European Regional Development Fund.