ENEREA Észak-Alföld Regional Energy Agency

The ENEREA Észak-Alföld Regional Energy Agency was established in March 2009 as the first regional energy agency in Hungary with support from the Intelligent Energy Europe Program. The mission of the agency is to promote energy efficiency, to support the rational usage of energy resources, to foster the usage of new and renewable energy resources and to support energy diversification. It was a main factor in establishing an energy agency in our region that the European Union requires to raise the ratio of new and renewable energy resources within the overall domestic energy usage from 5.3 % to 13 %. It is a strategic priority to increase the ratio and the absolute usage of new and renewable energy solutions as the current level is too low in our country. As the supply and the production of fossil energy sources are limited in Hungary, the country is highly dependent on the import of these goods. The new and renewable energy resources and solutions are highly underutilized in the Észak-Alföld Region compared to the possibilities and to the capabilities of the region, and also compared to the expectations in Hungary. The most notable capabilities of the region lie in the fields of biomass, geothermal, solar and wind energy sources. The Regional Energy Agency will help the region to get more information about international solutions, projects and experience. We believe that this type of knowledge transfer can add value to the development of the region in the energy field. The Regional Energy Agency will also act as a flagship in promoting the energy sector in the Észak-Alföld Region. What we do Main activities of the Észak-Alföld Regional Energy Agency are: • Energy planning (SWOT analysis, regional energy strategy), • Sectoral activities (promotions, professional workshops), • Horizontal activities (trainings, helpdesk service, energy award, energy marketing, project management), • Building capacity, cooperation (exploring ‘good practices’, making with energy agencies, international projects), • Communication and dissemination (communication strategy, webpage, newsletter, energy magazine, leaflets, media relations). ENEREA will develop the Energy Strategy for the Észak-Alföld Region in 2010. The strategy aims to provide a concept for the utilization of new and renewable energy resources in the Észak-Alföld Region, to foster the usage of renewable technologies and to increase the efficiency of these technologies. The creation of a regional strategy will also help to raise the public awareness of these new technologies and solutions. The importance of the strategy is also shown by the fact that the directives of the European Union require that the main objectives and results of the regional energy strategy should be embedded in the national energy strategy. The deployment of renewable energy requires appropriate economic, market and regulatory instruments. The diffusion and deployment of newly developed renewable energy technologies into markets are particularly important. A key strategy for market acceleration is removing trade and investment barriers between countries with significant renewable resources. Therefore we believe that international cooperation among energy agencies and other market actors is essential to achieve our long term goals. If you think there is a possibility that we can help your work or if we can cooperate in energy projects please do not hesitate to us.