Technical Chamber of Greece Energy Observatory [GR]

Up to 2015, there were no national, regional or local energy observatories in Greece to facilitate access to energy data and support local energy planning.  Therefore, the creation of a new energy observatory is a remarkable achievement to enable access to energy data and support local energy planning.

Website: www.web.tee.gr

Context & Rationale

Municipalities have limited or no access to energy consumption data of public buildings, public lighting, transport, the residential and tertiary sector, as well as energy produced from renewable energy sources. Data from these sectors are essential, especially in energy planning. Up to 2015, there were no national, regional or local energy observatories in Greece to facilitate access to energy data and support local energy planning. Therefore, the creation of a new energy observatory was imperative for assisting municipalities in the development and implementation of local sustainable energy plans.

The new observatory was formally established in August 2015 and is incorporated within the Technical Chamber of Greece’s (TCG) structure. TCG is a national public legal entity and a professional organization that serves as the official technical advisor of the Greek state. TCG is also a Covenant of Mayors (CoM) Coordinator; thus, committed to support municipalities in energy planning. Hence, the observatory will support municipalities throughout Greece.

Description

The TCG observatory has a mandate to support local authorities in Greece in collecting, analysing and using local energy data in energy planning. More specifically, the observatory is being designed to provide data to local authorities for developing a Baseline or a Monitoring Emission Inventory, required when developing and implementing a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative.

Main Results

• Existing Memoranda of Cooperation with energy stakeholders have been activated and a good working relationship has been established in order to collect electricity and natural gas consumption data.
• Key energy data providers have been mobilised and their collaboration has been encouraged with the aim of facilitating data exchange.
• A model that estimates local energy consumption based on regional/national data is being developed; estimates will be gradually replaced by actual consumption data.
• The creation of the observatory has been promoted in numerous events.