County Durham leaders celebrate key milestone in pan-European energy project

A project to improve the energy efficiency of businesses across County Durham has hit a key milestone after more than two years of international knowledge sharing.

Representatives of Durham County Council’s low carbon economy team recently flew out to a steering group gathering in Portugal, where they met partner organisations from Europe and marked the end of phase one of the LOCARBO project.

The LOCARBO partnership, part of the European Regional Development Fund’s Interreg Europe programme, started in April 2016.

It is aiming to help businesses save money and the environment, over a five-year period, by identifying and sharing best practice around energy efficiency.

During phase one, partners from the UK, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Romania and Lithuania met regularly to demonstrate and share expertise, and then return home to spread that knowledge via network group meetings.

During the latest event in Portugal, Durham County Council launched a joint bid with partners from Hungary, Italy and Romania for an Interreg Europe Joint Secretariat grant to fund research into a proposed ‘virtual power plant’ in the UK.

The authority’s low carbon economy team leader, Maggie Bosanquet, said: “We’ve been working closely with a Hungarian not-for-profit organization, Mi6, which has developed an exciting tool called a virtual power plant, for sharing and collating information about carbon efficiency.

“The LOCARBO project is funded by the European Union and that income has already enabled us to deliver outcomes which we otherwise couldn’t have.”

She continued: “We are now hoping to secure additional funding to explore the option of adapting Mi6’s methodology for use in County Durham. If we’re successful, implementing the tool could bring some significant energy and financial savings for businesses in the area.”