EXPRESS

European regions are working hard to increase both their share of renewable energy and energy self-sufficiency. EU's dependency on energy imports, particularly oil and natural gas, causes policy concerns relating to security of supply and increasing cost of energy affecting all sectors from households to agriculture and industries. The need to ensure security of supply puts the green transition at risk as regions may try to fulfil their energy needs by fossil fuels. On the other hand, the increasing price of fossil energy makes renewable energy an economically feasible option for the first time for many consumers.

In the EXPRESS project, the participating regions seek to increase their energy self-sufficiency and their share of renewable energy. Locally produced renewable energy contributes to sustainable development, in which the energy is produced in the region creating jobs and bringing local revenue. The project supports the REPowerEU targets to produce clean energy, save energy and diversify energy supplies in Europe.

The project partners are:

• The Regional Council of North Karelia (Finland)
• South East Energy Agency (SEEA) (Ireland)
• Paris Climate Agency (France)
• The Marche Region (Italy)
• Rzeszow Regional Development Agency (Poland)
• Hajdú-Bihar County Government (Hungary)
• Alba Iulia Municipality (Romania)
• Public Institution for the Development of the Međimurje County (REDEA) (Croatia)

The EXPRESS project objectives are to:

• increase the share of renewable energy in the participating regions.
• increase the energy self-sufficiency of the participating regions.
• improve regional strategies to better consider the new energy sector operational environment to enable a rapid transition to locally produced renewable energy for heating, electricity and transportation.

The project meets its objectives through interregional learning on good practices that can be incorporated to regional policy instruments to speed up the green transition to locally produced renewable energy.