LOCAL TRENDS

Local Trends – the European Local Government Forum is a space for meetings of representatives of local governments, public administration, business and experts, devoted to the challenges facing Polish cities and regions and to solutions supporting their development.

One of the topics of this year's event was local energy independence and the financing of renewable energy source (RES) investments.

Magdalena Hilszer, Vice-President of the Management Board of the KSSSE, took part in the panel „Fuel for municipal investments: Public funds and loans for building local energy independence”.

The panellists were:

- Dawid Karasek – Deputy Director of the Energy and Industry Department, National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (Narodowy Fundusz Ochrony Środowiska i Gospodarki Wodnej),

- Katarzyna Stefańska – Senior Energy Advisor, Termoenergi Norge AS

- Jakub Zieliński – Senior Credit Analysis Specialist, SGB Cooperative Banking Group (SGB Spółdzielcza Grupa Bankowa)

The discussion was moderated by the journalist Szymon Kozłowski.

The discussion concerned practical options for financing energy investments – available grant programmes, preferential loans and hybrid financing. It also covered the barriers faced by local governments and entrepreneurs when carrying out such projects, and how to prepare a project well in order to increase its chances of obtaining financing.