The BioVill project, funded through Horizon 2020 was the European Union's framework program for research and innovation, aimed to encourage and support the development of the bioenergy sector in Southeast Europe by transferring experiences from Austria, Germany and other European countries to Croatia, Northern Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia on the establishment and functioning of bioenergy villages. The project encouraged the development of the bioenergy sector in selected target countries by enhancing the role of locally produced biomass as the main source of energy supply at the local level, taking into account opportunities for greater participation or increasing markets for local farmers, tree growers and SMEs.
The key activities of the BioVill project included the selection of pilot bio-energy villages in the countries participating in the project, then technological and economic assessment of their transition to the concept of self-sustainable, energy independent local community, involvement of stakeholders and citizens, support for local supply chain development and bioenergy technologies, as well as capacity building at the local level to develop financing mechanisms and business models.
The total budget of the BioVill project, which was distributed to nine partner organizations from seven countries, amounted to 1.99 million euros.
The BioVill project was implemented in the period from March 1, 2016 to February 28, 2019.
What is a bioenergy village?
A bioenergy village is a settlement, municipality, village or community that produces and uses energy obtained from locally collected biomass and other renewable sources. A bioenergy village uses forest, agricultural or biomass from waste to produce heat and/or electricity, primarily for its own needs. This concept is often realized by applying several different technologies, such as wood waste boilers, pellet stoves, wood boilers, biogas plants, power plants for combined production of electricity and wood waste heating, etc. These plants mainly supply smaller local heating networks that supply heat to consumers. The concept of bio-energy villages, i.e. the planning and installation of renewable energy technologies, is inseparable from and often includes energy efficiency measures. In addition to supporting increased use of renewable energy and positive effects on climate and environment, the main idea of the bio-energy village concept is to strengthen the local economy, as energy costs remain in the local community or region and local economic development is stimulated through local supply chains.
The involvement and participation of a large number of stakeholders and consumers at the local level is crucial for the success of the bioenergy village. Ideally, biomass suppliers and energy consumers are co-owners of the installations. The concept of establishing bio-energy villages was developed thanks to citizen movements whose goal is to contribute to an energy sector that will be more environmentally friendly. Initiatives such as Jühnde in Germany, Güssing in Austria and Samsø in Denmark are well-known bio-energy villages that contribute to this development. There are several hundred bio-energy villages in these countries today.
What are the goals of a bioenergy village?
There is still no "official" definition of a bioenergy village or anything like that, however, the literature and practice describe key elements of a bioenergy village:
Project results
The BioVill project has produced several very significant results. At the general level, a couple of reports have been produced on the topic of bioenergy villages, such as the Review of Examples of Good Practice of Bioenergy Villages in Europe or the Analysis of National Frameworks for the Establishment of Bioenergy Villages. In addition, the project has produced a number of studies, guides, methodologies and tools for calculating the potential and applicable technologies in bio-energy villages.
In Serbia, the key results of the project were raising awareness and involving the public on bio-energy and bio-energy villages in the municipality of Bajina Basta, proposing a business model for the bio-energy village of Kostojevici, as well as switching from fuel oil to bio-mass as the main heating energy in the elementary school "Dusan Jerkovic" in Kostojevici.
Contact person: Miodrag Gluscevic (miodrag.gluscevic@skgo.org)