Programme: INTERREG Mediterranean (Project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund - ERDF)

Lifetime: 30 months, from 01/03/2021 to 30/06/2022

Overall budget: 499,884 € (ERDF contribution 446,659 € )

Key words: EU Renovation Wave Strategy, Low-carbon strategies, Economic-financial evaluation of energy conservation measures (ECMs) for public buildings, Public funding through subsidies for retrofitting and refurbishment, Payback times and Internal Rate of Return (IRR), SET methodology (Subsidy Evaluation Tool).

Objective: SISMA PLUS aims to help local authorities in the European countries of the Mediterranean area, gathered by the Interreg MED Programme in order to promote their sustainable development, to overcome shared challenges in financing sound investment projects in renovation, energy efficiency and retrofitting of public buildings. Thanks to transfer processes, fostered by transnational cooperation, of innovative concepts and practices in promoting the smart use of resources and optimizing public funding, the local authorities involved will be able to prioritize their investments correctly, efficiently and quickly.

Training frame work: To this end, the project will sign specific agreements with 20 municipalities in the MED area in which it will organize targeted training activities for the dissemination of its SET (Subsidy Evaluation Tool) methodology to evaluate the energy and financial viability of ECMs (Energy Conservation Measures) and the minimum amount of public subsidy needed to mobilize private investment. The market needs clear payback times and a clear minimum internal rate of return (IRR) in order to invest with confidence in the intensive refurbishment of public buildings. With SISMA PLUS this information and data will be provided in an innovative, simple and reliable way.
Once the SET training process is complete, the benefits for local authorities will be measured in terms of increased know-how and planning capacity to prioritize interventions.
In the framework of its "train-the-trainer" activities, SISMA PLUS will not only provide templates for tender protocols, manuals, ready-to-use spreadsheets, guidelines and dedicated training documentation (SET Package), but also create a network of competence centers with the role of transferring technical skills to local administrators and guiding the coordination, standardization and monitoring of implemented measures.

Results: All teaching materials will be made freely available in multilingual versions and, in order to ensure the replication potential of the tools developed by SISMA PLUS, have been adapted to the individual national implementation contexts. Therefore the SET methodology represents a ready-to-use decision support system that can significantly support local authorities also to align themselves with strategic European initiatives such as the Renovation Wave, one of the priorities of the Green Deal, and to intercept the opportunities made available by the Funds for the recovery and revitalization of continental economies after the pandemic crisis.
The main result of SISMA PLUS will be an increase in the number of local authorities that will integrate the SET methodology in their tender documents for the renovation, energy efficiency and retrofitting of public buildings (schools, gyms, office buildings and health facilities).

Project partners:

• Energy Management Agency of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy (Lead partner)
• Metropolitan City of Bologna, Italy
• Goriška local energy agency, Nova Gorica - GOLEA, Slovenia
• Energy Agency of Podravje, Institution for Sustainable Energy Use - ENERGAP, Slovenia
• Energy and Environment Agency of Arrábida – ENA, Portugal
• Center for Energy, Energy Efficiency and the Environment – CEEO, Bosnia and Erzegovina

Website: https://sisma.interreg-med.eu/

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