By: UKOM
Mr Jernej Vrtovec, Minister of Infrastructure, attended virtual meeting of EU energy ministers, in the course of which, among other things, a political discussion was held on the “Renovation Wave for Europe” strategy, focusing mainly on the opportunities offered by renovating buildings in the period of recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic.
Minister Vrtovec welcomed the drafting of the Renovation Wave for Europe strategy, which can help improve the status quo regarding buildings’ energy performance. “If we want to take full advantage of the potential for renovating buildings for better energy performance, we will also have to take into account the issues of earthquakes, fires and cultural heritage limitations, because energy renovation is inextricably linked to this in a number of cases,” said the Minister, adding that Slovenia will use the recovery and resilience mechanism to continue its efforts in the much-needed improvement of the energy performance of buildings, especially those that are of key importance in the fight against epidemics, such as hospitals and homes for the elderly.
The EU energy ministers also discussed the integration of energy sectors, focusing on the role of decentralised power generation from renewable energy sources. These processes contribute to creating new jobs and improving companies’ competitiveness by attracting private investment. Minister Vrtovec stressed that it would be a good idea to consider regulating self-sufficiency by a European regulation that would define all the rights and obligations of self-sufficient entities uniformly across the EU. “As far as the supply of communities with energy from renewable energy sources is concerned, the directive currently in force is very sparse and many questions as to the feasibility of this concept arise in practice. Self-sufficiency across various sectors should be addressed better as well. Self-sufficiency in the industrial or services sectors is guided by different principles than self-sufficiency in households,” added the Minister of Infrastructure Jernej Vrtovec.
Source: gov.si