South East Energy Agency (SEEA) was delighted to host SCEPA consortium members in Kilkenny on Oct 15-16, 2024, for the partner meeting and visit to Ireland. The two-day event had project partners from France, Netherlands and Belgium with SEEA’s associate collaborators from Waterford Co.Co., Ballymacarbry Elders Housing Association Ltd. (BEHAL) and Galway Energy Co-Operative, in attendance.
Stakeholder identification and framework to alleviate energy poverty amongst vulnerable households
Inspiring project partners in the efforts to alleviate energy poverty among vulnerable households, ALDA - European Association for Local Democracy, facilitated a workshop to identify how stakeholders can be analysed in such challenging issues, methods on how to recognise the needs of people affected by energy poverty, and possible actions to address them, on the first day of the meeting.
Local Action Plans
Following up on the ALDA’s session, HAN University of Applied Sciences, an academic collaborator within SCEPA consortium, conducted a session wherein SCEPA partners assessed their action plans/interventions to alleviate energy poverty using the fishbowl participatory strategy. Partners defined the success of Local Action Plans (LAPs) in different ways, such as customer satisfaction, reach, well-being of residents, energy efficiency, happiness, mental and/or physical health, and increased willingness to install energy-saving measures.
The general consensus from the project partners indicated that, although a uniform approach to evaluating the LAPs was absent, it was essential to determine the effectiveness of each intervention in relation to the factors that led to the desired or negative results for their respective target groups.
SCEPA participants in the middle of fishbowl exercise
John Ryan explains the energy improvement journey of his enterprise
A key feature in the day’s activities was the inspection of energy efficiency measures and rooftop tour in Pembroke Hotel of Kilkenny conducted by the owner, John Ryan. These measures were put in place to help reduce the Hotel’s carbon footprint, align with global sustainability goals and some energy credits from the retrofits are donated to SEEA for discounted services provided to vulnerable households in fuel poor homes and rural communities.
Pilot visit
The partners visited the 15-elderly housing units in Ballymacarbry, Co. Waterford – the pilot site of SCEPA in Ireland, on Day two of the project meeting. The pilot is managed by the community housing body, BEHAL, with onsite deployment of solar PV panels ata nearby community building; the elderly residents benefit from clean energy to reduce their energy bills. This innovative solution is partly funded by Interreg North-West Europe. The partners had a tour around the environs at the pilot site and participated in other scheduled project engagements before bringing the partner visit to a close.
SCEPA project partners listening to a Community of Interest stakeholder & BEHAL representative, Mark Tarleton, on Day 2 of the project event in Ireland