A roundtable on “Sustainable Energy Efficiency Financing Models in FBiH” was held in Sarajevo, organized by the Bosnia Energy Efficiency Project and the Ministry of Physical Planning of the FBiH.
From 2016, the World Bank project “Bosnia Energy Efficiency Project” implemented in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, within which 29 public facilities have been renovated so far, while the plan for this year is new 15 facilities. The total investment in the works is 13 million BAM, while the overall estimate of savings for these facilities amounts to 1.6 million BAM per year. During the three years of the project, many benefits through energy savings, raising comfort and quality of sojourn, reducing CO2 emissions, and new jobs creation, have also been achieved, for more than 220,000 users, which speaks more than enough about the importance of energy efficiency for BiH society.
In addition to the successful implementation of the project through the renovation of public facilities, the goal of the project is to represent the benefits of energy efficiency, but also to support the development of sustainable models for financing energy efficiency projects. In this connection, a roundtable on topic was held in Sarajevo “Sustainable Energy Efficiency Financing Models in FBiH“, organized by the “Bosnia Energy Efficiency Project” and the Ministry of Physical Planning of the FBiH.
For a while, local and international consultants, are working on the preparation of a study on “Sustainable Model of Financing EE in the FBiH“. The round table which was attended by the most important partners, the relevant cantonal and federal ministries, Environmental Fund of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, consultants, and private sector representatives, were able to present knowledge and potential financing models, was an opportunity to present the findings and potential models of financing.
Proposal and assessment of opportunities based on international experiences, with the aim of determining the applicability and benefits of potential sustainable models of EE projects in the public sector in FBiH, presented Dilip Limaye, an international consultant in charge of this activity in FBiH, while Jas Singh, the leading energy efficiency specialist presented international experiences, and pointed out that states in the region increasingly recognize the importance of public EE projects where energy cost savings are used to repay the investment.
“The implementation of energy efficiency measures saves the money of end users that these funds can later utilize for other purposes. With activities on the renovation of public facilities in FBiH, it is very important that through this project we implement the mechanism of a sustainable financing system, from savings generated by the effects of energy efficiency” – said Mustafa Čopelj, “Bosnia Energy Efficiency Project” Team Leader for the FBiH, and added that potential for savings in the public sector i.e. the budget in Cantons and FBiH are about 40 million annually, while the total investment potential is 400 – 500 million BAM.
The “Bosnia Energy Efficiency Project“ implementation unit will present these models to the Project Steering Board and then to the Government of the Federation, after which a sustainable model will be selected which the consultants will develop to the details necessary for implementation.