Project team visited Georgian project cities
On 25-27 July 2015, Project Manager Agnieszka Schirru-Nowicka, Deputy Project Manager Vitaliy Volkov and Project Auditor Volodymyr Shyganov visited Georgian project cities Gori and Rustavi and held in Tbilisi the last Steering Committee Meeting and internal Project Meeting of all Georgian partners and participants of the project ‘Covenant of Mayors Capacity Building Model for Ukraine and Georgia: Model Solution for Eastern Partnership and Central Asian Countries’.
In Rustavi, the Ukrainian project team met the Deputy Mayor Mr. Lasha Lobjanidze and the Infrastructure, Construction and Amenities Department Deputy Head Mr. Zurab Tabagua, responsible for municipal energy management, talked about the achievements of the project in Rustavi and discussed the opportunities for further cooperation. Moreover, the project team visited the kindergarten nr 21, where pilot renewable energy and efficiency measures were implemented in the framework of this project and included replacement of single glazed old windows and doors with double glazed PVC ones, thermal insulation of roof and walls with mineral wool and gypsum plasterboard, thermal insulation of inner ceiling with mineral wool and aqua-panel, replacement of non-efficient individual gas-heaters by an autonomous heating system and the installation of a hybrid (sun energy + natural gas) heating and hot water supply system, among others. As a result, the indoor conditions for the children substantially improved.
In Gori, the project team was welcomed by the Mayor Mr. Zurab Jirkvelishvili and the energymanager Mr. Givi Khuroshvili, who expressed their gratitude for the EU support in increasing the awareness of the citizens of the climate change and energy efficiency issues and, in particular, improving the environment for the children attending the kindergarten nr 16 in Gori, where another energy efficiency and renewable energy demonstration project was implemented. The pilot measures included replacement of single glazed old windows and doors with double glazed PVC windows & doors, thermal insulation of the roof with two layers of mineral wool, replacement of non-efficient wood stoves & individual gas-heaters with autonomous heating hybrid (solar energy + natural gas) heating and hot water supply system, replacement of incandescent light bulbs with CFL ones. Both Ukrainian and Georgian project partners in Gori are very interested in further improvement of energy efficiency and cooperation in this area.
Last but not least, the project team met all Georgian project participants in Tbilisi to discuss the main achievements, lessons learnt and results of the project, including implementation of pilot energy efficiency/ renewable energy projects in Gori and Rustavi, trainings for energy managers and consultants, guidelines and software tools, awareness-raising campaigns and capacity development of the involved project partners. All partner were actively participating in the discussion, gave their extensive feedback and presented their views and plans concerning further work and cooperation in the project-related areas. At the end of the meeting, all project participants were officially awarded certificates and were invited to further cooperation within future energy efficiency projects.