On 15 May 2025, the ConnectHeat project hosted a new capacity-building webinar titled “The Warmth of Cooperation: Heating and Cooling Communities for the Balkans”. The session explored how local stakeholders in the Balkans can come together to collectively plan, finance, and manage sustainable thermal energy communities tailored to their needs.
After a brief welcome and introduction by Riccardo Battisti (Ambiente Italia), he continued by outlining the foundational concept of H&C communities, emphasizing their relevance as locally anchored solutions to decarbonising thermal energy systems. The session then highlighted two national case studies: Todor Belezhkov from the Energy Agency of Plovdiv presented Bulgaria’s progress in mobilising community-led H&C initiatives, while Martina Krizmanić Pećnik from REGEA shared practical insights from Croatia.
The programme continued with a focus on supporting tools and academic perspectives. Chiara Lazzari (Ambiente Italia) introduced a set of tools tailored to help local authorities and communities in planning and managing H&C projects. Finally, Paraskevi G. Dimitriadou from the Democritus University of Thrace presented the case of the Kimmeria energy community, offering a real-world example of community-driven action in Greece. The event concluded with a Q&A session, allowing participants to engage directly with the speakers and further explore the challenges and opportunities of developing H&C communities in their own contexts.
Watch the recording below:
