The city of Szentes is located in the southern lowland region, in Csongrád County. It is surrounded by the rivers Tisza and Hármas-Kőrös, whereas the streamlet Kurca runs across the third most populous town of the county. (31.000 residents)

The town’s life is determined by the underground and surface waters. The existence of Szentes derives from the closeness of the river Tisza. In the past centuries the surrounding waters’ flood-basins gave shelter to the town’s inhabitants throughout the storms of history. The rivers and channels nourished the area’s developing agriculture and the town’s horticultural fame is based upon the spa waters that burst out of the ground. 

The many coloured openness is a characteristic feature of the town. It invigorates the town’s bustling economics, its diverse cultural, community and sports life. The 32 thermal wells of the town make Szentes a unique natural resource in Europe, which not only determines its economic life but functions as a base for those who seek relaxation, recovery or entertainment.

The orderly parks, swimming pools and sport fields offer excellent facilities for relaxing to young and elderly, and the magical effects of the town’s thermal spa, the silence of its museum and art gallery are all waiting to be discovered.

The town’s gates are open for the curious visitors and the open-minded and warm hearted people of Szentes are looking forward to meeting them with a warm welcome. Personal experience has more value than any pictures or words we can say.

 

Szentes plays a leading role in the usage and multiplication of suitable and feasible technologies relating to geothermal energy in the South of the Hungarian Great Plain. The 32 thermal wells, which are situated on the territory of Szentes, are used in many ways: thermal heating system works in more than 4.000 flat units including flats and municipality run institutions; in bath; in agriculture and horticulture. 

 

Additionally, investment in a biomass power station is also planned. In the last few years several related measures were taken. The city has absolved EU and Norwegian Funds for institutions energetic reconstructions resulted in a 95% reduction of CO2 emission in 10 institutions. Szentes gained the Award of Biodiversity Capital of Europe in 2011. What is more, eco-schools are operating in the city. Szentes is aims to share these competences and experiences with the RENERGY-partners by showing best-practice-examples. 

 

The city of Szentes is looking forward to exchange experiences and further lessons learnt within the interregional partnership in order to develop new strategies for a sustainable and energy efficient future for the city. 

The Avrig vision is:  “ to become one of Romania's leading centres for renewable energy by 2020 and to become energy independent by 2030. This will result in new jobs, lower utility bills and a city that is known as a good place to invest, work, live and visit.”

In order to fulfill its vision, the municipality has developed  a programme called “ Avrig Local Energy Programme” approved by the Local Council in June 2010.

The priorities of Avrig contained in its Local Energy Programme include:

 

The vision of Avrig is to become one of Romania’s leading centres for RES by 2020. This aim is reflected in strategic documents of the city that focus on the

development of energy infrastructure, RES-based systems, environment protection and is supported by intensive communication activities. Avrig can CONTRIBUTE to RENERGY by bringing Eastern-European knowledge and ideas on RES and EE development, drawing attention to the regionspecific problems in the field.  The Municipality wishes to BENEFIT from the project through the intensive transfer of know-how and good practices and direct access to relevant European experience, as well as through becoming member of a European network that supports local promotion and improvement of the RES potentials of Avrig. Participation in RENERGY offers Avrig the possibility to strengthen its leading position in a regional context as a key promoter of sustainable energy development and become a model for other cities in the region and across the country.

 

Slagelse Municipality was formed in 2007 and is located in the south-west of the island of Zealand. The municipality has app. 78,000 inhabitants, most of them living in the towns of Slagelse, Korsør and Skælskør.

 

Slagelse Municipality is a large municipality stretching almost 570 km2.  32% of the inhabitants live in the countryside, which is made up of about 120 small villages as well as the islands of Omø and Agersø.

 

Slagelse Municipality is dominated by 120 km costal line with large recreational areas, attractive beaches and, in the south of the municipality, a beautiful landscape classified as Natura 2000 protection area. 

 

Located along railway and highway, Slagelse Municipality is well connected to the Copenhagen / South Sweden area as well as Funen and Jutland.

 

The Great Belt Bridge connecting Zealand and the island of Funen is also basis for the municipal logo. Historically, logistics and transportation formed the basis of the local economy, which today primarily consists of SME within production and services. The town of Slagelse is also the local centre for education, comprising technical schools, highschool and a department of the University of Southern Denmark.

 

Slagelse Municipality has signed the European Covenant of Mayors in 2009, which obliged the municipality to reduce the CO2 emission by minimum 20% by 2020. Slagelse Municipality has also signed the Climate Protection Agreement under the The Danish Society for Nature Conservation obliging the municipality to reduce CO2 emission from the municipal activities by 2% annually. 

Therefore, we have chosen to participate in the RENERGY project with the aim to encourage energy awareness among employees. 

 

Slagelse joins the two Thematic Groups (TG 2 - Market Uptake and TG 3 - Community Involvement), and will provide a case study on community involvement on basis of the existing network of energy-responsible personnel.

Kaunas is the second largest city and the most important industrial centre in Lithuania, located at the confluence of the two largest rivers of the country, Nemunas and Neris. The city’s leadership treat the issue of RES and EE as one of the most important priorities and signing the Covenant of Mayors demonstrates this well. 

 

Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) is the largest technical university in the Baltic States. Being one of the most dynamic centres for higher education in Lithuania, KTU is often regarded as a research and study leader in various fields. KTU's mission is to: contribute to building up the global university community, become a leading Lithuanian scientific institution, participate in the development of information and knowledge society, and pursue excellence through diversity. The Institute of Environmental Engineering (APINI) is an integrated part of KTU. Since its establishment in 1991, it has been working as a multidisciplinary research institute, its international reputation spanning over two decades. APINI has an experience in research and implementation of environmental management systems, cleaner production, integrated waste management, environmental performance evaluation, chemical risk assessment and management as well as energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

 

The main role of the Kaunas University of technology, Institute of Environmental Engineering in RENERGY will be to provide key knowledge to the partners in order to define and implement methods that can assess a status of countries regarding energy efficiency and utilization of RES. 

 

The institution has been involved in projects related to energy efficiency in public buildings and in industries. Based on its experience in interregional projects and cooperation with authorities in order to reach a wider public awareness on EE and RES issues, KTU wishes to contribute to the project by coordinating the thematic pillar Community Involvement of RENERGY. This will involve setting up and coordinating the TG composed by experts of the PPs, defining a working protocol and other instruments and continuously monitoring and supporting the TG’s work through sharing and transferring KTU’s experience coming from research in the relevant areas. KTU also wishes to benefit from the intensified knowledge transfer developed by the project as well as the opportunity to elaborate concrete plans for the region and the city of Kaunas in particular, based on relevant European experience.