The City of Kraków, together with the other Fellow Cities (Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen, Matosinhos, Riga) and the Lighthouse Cities, are obligated to conduct the Innovative ATELIER (IA).
In Kraków, the Innovation Atelier is a knowledge and experience exchange platform between business, academia, and public administration while taking into account the needs and expectations of the residents. The platform aims to inspire the local smart energy technologies market, accelerate the just transition, and achieve climate neutrality by Kraków as soon as possible.
The IA actions are conducted through workshops, conferences, and discussions. It aims to find business cases, joint funding, and synergies between various groups of the energy market actors, that are necessary for carrying out the energy transformation of the city.
On April 19, 2023, by the official conference, we have started the series of workshops dedicated to the energy communities in Kraków. More information about the opening conference can be found here: https://smartcity-atelier.eu/allgemein/energy-communities-in-krakow/.
The series of workshops were carried out as an activity within the Innovation Track 2, called ,,Governance, Integrated Planning, and Law.”
- Workshop No. 1 on May 18th: Management staff of housing cooperatives and housing associations
- Workshop No. 2 on May 24th: Directors of schools, nursing homes, and museums
- Workshop No. 3 on May 25th: Residents of housing cooperatives and housing Associations
- Workshop No. 4 on May 30th: Directors of municipal units, departments, housing cooperatives, and academia
Workshop No. 1 was dedicated to the management staff of housing cooperatives and housing associations. Together with the CEOs and technical directors, we were talking about the possible forms of energy communities that are currently possible to implement in Poland for multi-family buildings, e.g. individual prosumer and solutions that will be implemented in the near future, as a consequence of the RED II, e.g. virtual prosumer, group prosumer. We were analysing the example of an energy community in Warsaw and considering the implementation of a similar solution in Kraków.
Workshop No. 2 focused on the management staff of schools, nursing homes, cultural centers, and more. Together with the directors and maintenance workers, we were discussing the necessary actions to increase energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and get funds for PV installations such as subsidies orcrowdfunding. In addition, representatives of the specialist municipal unit KEGW, dedicated to deal with climate issues, were present with us all day, sharing their experiences in the field of installing photovoltaic panels on municipal public buildings.
After that, workshop No. 3 was dedicated to the residents, but also representatives of cultural centers, schools, and nursing homes were present. We considered individual cases, the opportunities that everyone has, and the barriers they encounter on a daily basis in terms of energy communities, energy savings, and energy costs.
Furthermore, workshop No. 4 was entirely dedicated to considerations about the energy clusters in Kraków. The representatives of different municipal organizations were present, including directors of municipal companies, units, and various departments, mainly responsible for the innovative activities, for strategies development, and air quality. In addition, representatives of the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, the Regional Center for Social Policy, the Kraków University of Technology, and Kraków housing cooperatives were also present. The workshop was coordinated by an expert in the development of energy clusters in Poland.
All workshops were carried out under the supervision of specialists selected in the public procurement procedure, including experts from the National Center for Nuclear Research and practitioners dealing with the implementation of investments in PV on a daily basis. The meetings were held in the urban space dedicated to climate actions – in the Kraków Center for Climate Education. All workshops were all-day meetings, during which the participants actively shared their thoughts, doubts, and experiences when it comes to energy communities. We were positively surprised how eagerly one CEO of the housing cooperative shared his knowledge about the implementation of individual prosumer from a practical point of view. He presented his experiences in getting funds, encouraging residents, and overcoming administrative procedures.
The series of meetings on energy communities was a success and indicated how important it is to exchange knowledge and experience between participants of the energy market. Therefore, we can conclude that the Innovation Atelier is a very valuable platform for achieving the necessary energy transition of the city together with business, academia, municipality and citizens.
Credits: Municipality of Kraków / www.krakow.pl