The REPLACE project is moving forward as planned. And as the project meeting on 30 June 2022 showed, a large number of the planned tools and activities have already been implemented to motivate people in the project regions to switch to renewable heating and cooling systems and save energy.
Among other things, all REPLACE training seminars, including some follow-up trainings, have already been implemented. Professionals in North Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Bulgaria and Slovenia received information on how to exchange heating systems in a climate-friendly way and how to support customers in saving energy. In Slovenia, another training is planned for September 2022.
Another topic was the implementation of collective actions that reach a particularly large number of customers at the same time. In addition to local heating networks in Germany or a biomass logistic hub in Spain, the partner in Northern Macedonia is planning to launch the joint purchase of inverter heat pumps and PV in a group of flats with the help of a pre-feasibility study. In Austria, for the first time a web-based one-stop-shop was developed and since mid-July facilitates a simple switch from fossil fueled systems to renewable-based and district heating systems.
Finally, the current high energy prices were also a topic of the meeting. On the one hand, they increase the desire for energy self-sufficiency, for example through heat pumps and solar thermal energy. At the same time, the rise in prices can also make the switch more difficult, as for example the partners from Bosnia and Bulgaria reported, where the rise in the price of pellets is slowing down the climate-friendly exchange of heating systems. Other countries are also facing similar challenges. In both cases, REPLACE tools and activities help to steer the efforts of heating system replacement in a more sustainable direction.