Promotion of Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings
The Project concerns the energy-efficient rehabilitation of public buildings including the introduction of Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEB) and the installation of rooftop solar panels for the buildings in selected municipalities throughout Serbia.
The purpose of the Project is to contribute to improving energy performance in targeted buildings, to use renewable energies, and contribute to the population and the environment benefitting from a sustainable, clean, efficient, and reliable energy supply.
The total Project costs are around € 77.68 million. The KfW concessional loan (German Government subsidizing the interest rate) amount is € 50 million, while the grant amount is € 27.68 million (a grant of up to € 2 million from the German Federal Government, an investment grant of up to € 20 million and a grant for technical assistance of up to € 1.5 million provided by the REEP and around € 4.168 million by the EU Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) II National Programme).
The project comprises several components:
- Component I comprises the energy-efficient rehabilitation of cca. 35 public buildings in selected municipalities throughout Serbia.
- Component II includes installation of the solar panels on approximately 125 public buildings
- Component III shall pilot one to two Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEB) in Serbia.
The Serbian Ministry for Public Investment (MPI) shall be in charge of the overall Project coordination and administration.
The Loan Agreement has been signed on 27th of October 2023 while the Grant Agreement for the German Government grant, Grant Agreement for the REEP funds and the Grant Agreement for the IPA funds have been signed on 27th of December 2023.
Expected results include annual CO2 emissions from the rehabilitated building stock to be reduced by at least 40% and by 6,900 tons of CO2-equivalents based on final energy consumption. CO2 emissions to be further reduced by 4,850 tons of CO2-equivalents due to electricity consumption from the rooftop solar panels. Overall reduction of CO2 emissions amounts to at least 11,750 tons which is equivalent to the annual average emission from 9,600 cars. To understand this data, we can say that more than half a million trees would be needed to absorb this amount of CO2.
The project also seeks for active engagement and involvement of women, to constitute at least 50% of the staff engaged through the project (at MPI and Implementation Consultant).
2 buildings with NZEB standards. Since 2019 new public buildings in the EU need to have the NZEB standard. This will pilot project for Serbia since there are currently no public buildings built with this standard, nor the nZEB standard is set and adopted by Serbia
A working group consisting of representatives of several institutions - Ministry for Public Investment (MPI), Ministry of Mining and Energy, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Environmental Protection will lead the selection process of buildings that will be rehabilitated.At the moment, there are around 370 public buildings in Serbia that are not included in any program and need to be renovated.
The program will encompass a holistic approach consisting of energy efficiency measures (e.g. thermal insulation of walls and roof, replacement of heating systems, etc); structural measures (e.g. structural rehabilitation, paintings, installation of sprinkler system), and comfort measures (e.g. rehabilitation of sanitary rooms, suppression of mold). Energy efficiency measures must account minimum of 50% of the measures for the entire program.
efficiency is currently at a low level in Serbia. The ratio of energy intensity is four times higher than for the EU-28 country and CO2 emissions per USD/GDP are six times higher. One of Serbia's largest energy consumers is private and public buildings with a share of approx. 45% of final energy consumption. Overall, there are 2.2 Mio. private and 25.000 public buildings of those only 5% have been built since 1992. More than 50% of Serbia's building stock is outdated and does not comply with today's energy standards.
The action started in August 2021 and will last until February 2026.