Since December 2023, eclareon has been providing advisory support to a Slovakian umbrella association for the renewable sector called SAPI. Despite 2023 being declared the European Year of Skills, little or no effort has been made to address the challenge of the growing gap between market demand for green jobs and the country’s current national educational and training capacity. Several players in the Slovak market, including the Slovak Association of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps and the Slovak Association of Photovoltaic Industry and RES (SAPI) itself, have frequently raised this issue.
eclareon is stepping in to provide its international expertise on the socio-economic impacts associated with the wider deployment of renewable energy sources. Building on national data to be collected through a business survey and expert interviews, eclareon’s task is to provide best estimates of direct and indirect employment effects linked to solar PV, onshore wind and heat pump deployment. Furthermore, in view of the forthcoming Final Update of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), a likely gap will be reckoned on the basis of the detailed calculations on specific categories of direct green jobs, including STEM ones.
CAN Europe released the ‘Overcoming barriers for renewable energy deployment in the Western Balkans: The case of North Macedonia and Serbia’ study that eclareon researchers Ana Stojilovska and Marko Kolovrat developed during the summer and autumn of 2023.
The study published on 23 January highlights that both countries have made progress in establishing institutional and legislative frameworks aimed at boosting the deployment of RES, but challenges persist. A lack of political will, intricate administrative processes, and insufficient governance planning within the energy sector all hinder the efficient deployment of renewable sources. Recommendations articulated range from good governance to addressing energy poverty provide guidance for further steps to enable these countries in meeting their net zero targets in a swift and just manner.
Further dissemination events are to follow in the coming months.
The Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) is one of the most important international conferences on the global energy transition. Around 50 delegations and more than 2000 international decision-makers from the business and science communities and civil society from over 130 countries commune every year at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. In 2024, eclareon is again taking part in organising the event, getting ready for its 10th edition.
Against the backdrop of COP28 decisions, where the global community committed to accelerating the energy transition to achieve the 1.5°C target, the BETD aims to facilitate discussions on concrete measures and cooperation. The goal is to triple renewable energy capacity globally and increase the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. However, ambitious energy transition targets are only as good as their implementation. The German Government wants to shape and accelerate this in a spirit of international cooperation.
On 19 and 20 March, discussions will be held on how to accelerate the expansion of renewable energies and exploit the full potential of the global energy transition. At the same time, the creation of sustainable growth, a socially just transformation, jobs and energy security are at the top of the conference agenda.
For more information, visit the conference website: https://www.energydialogue.berlin/
At the eclareon policy department, we advise European institutions, governments, businesses and NGOs on the global deployment of renewable energy and climate technology solutions. eclareon’s team, which spans a wide range of EU Member States and beyond, offers a unique blend of international academic and professional experience. This diversity fosters a holistic approach to our projects.
With over 20 years of experience in the energy and environmental technology sectors, eclareon has established lasting industry relationships, underscoring our dedication to continuous growth and innovation.
We are currently looking for professionals with a passion for climate and energy policy to join our pool of experts. Your expertise will be instrumental in driving forward important research projects in these vital areas. Joining the pool does not entail any pre-set commitments. As we pursue and acquire projects, we will be in touch with you to explore whether you are the right fit for the task and discuss whether you wish to participate.
Application Guidelines:
Please send your detailed Europass CV to vs@eclareon.com. It is important that your CV includes comprehensive sections on your education and work experience. This level of detail is crucial to matching you with projects that reflect your expertise and interests.
Selected experts will be engaged in project-based work that matches their expertise, qualifications and interests, with remuneration commensurate with the scope and nature of the project.
eclareon developed a ten-step checklist commissioned by CAN Europe in October 2023 that can be a guide for governments, local authorities and developers of crucial considerations they need to consider when accelerating wind and solar development. The checklist underlines the need for early and just public engagement, supporting democratic energy cooperatives, ensuring local staffing, deploying Geographic Information System (GIS), prioritizing brownfield over greenfield development, while maximising synergies with nature protection and biodiversity increases. These steps will help build public support for local renewable energy projects, helping reduce the likelihood of objections and make the permitting process much smoother and quicker; thereby, maintaining or accelerating the energy transition’s momentum.
The checklist elaborated by eclareon forms a key part of the briefing paper called Guidelines to Faster and Fairer Permitting for Europe’s Renewable Energy Transition, which was published by CAN Europe in mid-October 2023. Further details may be found on the following link.
On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection in Germany, eclareon will continue to advise and support the “energy solutions – made in Germany” offers to German companies in the renewable energy sector in the fields of production and green hydrogen in 2024.
The eclareon team is looking forward to the realisation of numerous exciting events and delegation trips and to working with various implementation partners of the German government.
Interested German companies can find out more about the current offers at www.german-energy-solutions.de. You can register for the events and trips organised by eclareon in November and December 2023 here (in German only). We will publish the new offers for 2024 for German companies as soon as possible.
For further information, please contact Kai Unger, ku@eclareon.com.
In the period of September 2020 until mid-2023, eclareon, together with Oeko-Institute, WindEurope and SolarPower Europe, were implementing a project for DG ENER named “Technical support for RES policy development and implementation – Simplification of permission and administrative procedures for RES installations”, abbreviated and known as RES Simplify. The project was officially brought to an end in May 2023.
The project aim was to facilitate and accelerate administrative and permit-granting procedures of renewable energy projects across EU Member States. Given this, the project consortium scrutinised such procedures across the EU. These were subsequently evaluated based on the developed performance indicators. The main results together with measures identified as good practices were further examined and disseminated through the series of 52 stakeholder engagement activities. The events included sectoral surveys, virtual workshops, national events, bilateral meetings, and presentations in public events, among others. On top of that, the partners monitored the easing of permit-granting procedures in line with the obligation for the transposition of Arts. 15-17 of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). Additional measures going beyond the RED II (e.g., overriding public interest principle, identification of suitable areas, positive silence for RE projects) were also further discussed. Based on the aforementioned deliverables, the partners developed recommendations and identified best practices for RES admission procedures. Last but not least, an outline for the optimised processes and supporting IT infrastructure that are compliant with RED II was prepared.
The RES Simplify Final Report (in English), which includes all the details, can be found here.
In the framework of the Pakistan-German Renewable Energy Forum (PGREF), a fifteen-member delegation visits the Berlin Energy Transition Dialoge, several side events and participates in workshops with Berlin experts to learn about urban solar policy instruments such as the Masterplan Solarcity Berlin and about smart sustainable mobility and transport concepts.
PGREF, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), supports Pakistani and German businesses and think tanks to develop mutually beneficial cooperation for successful renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in Pakistan.
eclareon supports the lead consultant INTEGRATION environment & energy in the conception of the PGREF and since 2022 has been working with the PGREF team to set up various task forces to promote bilateral cooperation. The current delegation is composed of participants of the task forces “Smart cities”, “Net-zero Industry” and representatives of the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).
The Urban Innovation Forum, formerly Urban Energy Forum, will take place as an official side event of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue on 30 March at Drivery, Studio 22, Mariendorfer Damm 1, 12099 Berlin. Participation is free of charge, registration is required. Further information is available at https://www.urbaninnovation.berlin/urban-innovation-forum-2023.
The forum is organised by the Berlin-Brandenburg Energy Network e.V. (BEN) and took place for the first time in 2018 on the initiative of eclareon.
For companies from Berlin and Brandenburg interested in the BEN, Managing Director and BEN President Christoph Urbschat will be available on 30 March between 12 and 2 p.m. as part of B2B matchmaking. After successful registration, appointments with all participants can be booked here: https://uif-2023.b2match.io/.