Pursuant to the Decision of Republic of Srpska National Assembly on acceptance of the loan by Republic of Srpska towards the World Bank – International Development Association under the “Bosnia and Herzegovina Energy Efficiency Project” (BEEP), reference 01-649/14, dated 29th April 2014, and Amendment to the Decision on acceptance of the loan by Republic of Srpska towards the World Bank – International Development Association under the “Bosnia and Herzegovina Energy Efficiency Project” (BEEP), reference 02-1-021-217/15, dated 18th February 2015, the Ministry of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology of Republic of Srpska has been in charge of BEEP implementation in Republic of Srpska.

Anticipated commencement of the Project implementation was scheduled for September 2014, however, due to the delay in the procedure of the Agreement ratification and its adoption by all competent institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Project became effective on 27th May 2015, when its implementation officially began, and expected date of completion of the Project is 31st December 2019.

The value of “Bosnia and Herzegovina Energy Efficiency Project” is 32 million USD, and funds for project financing have been distributed between Republic of Srpska and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the ratio of 40:60%, respectively, and through subsidiary agreements. Loan of Republic of Srpska to the World Bank – International Development Association (IDA) is in the amount of 12,800,000 USD which is 40% of the total loan amount for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The aim of the Project is to demonstrate the benefits of improving energy efficiency in public sector buildings and to provide support for development of scalable energy efficiency financing models.

The Steering Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina Energy Efficiency Project was established by the Republic of Srpska Government Decision, reference number 04/1-012-2-1954/13, dated 12th September 2013 (“Republic of Srpska Official Gazette”, editions 82/13 and 104/14), and Project Preparation and Implementation Unit was formed by the Republic of Srpska Government Decision, reference number 04/1-012-2-1953/13, dated 12th September 2013 (“Republic of Srpska Official Gazette”, edition 82/13 and 15/2015).

Members of the Steering Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina Energy Efficiency Project are the ministers of Ministry of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology (Chairman), Ministry of Energy and Mining, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Healthcare and Social Welfare and Ministry of Education and Culture (members) or other persons nominated by the ministers of the aforesaid ministries authorized to replace them in the work of the Steering Committee.

The responsibilities of the Steering Committee in relation to the implementation of the Project are as follows:

  • determining the criteria for selection of facilities to be included in the Project;
  • approval of the list of facilities to be included in the Project;
  • approval of the annual report on implementation of the Project;
  • monitoring and evaluation of the Project implementation performance.

Selection of facilities that were subjected to retrofitting under the Project was performed through several phases: nomination of priority facilities by the city/municipality or the competent ministry, collection of technical data on facilities through defined forms; conducting preliminary energy audits for a group of facilities; final selection of facilities by the Project Steering Committee. The criteria used during selection of the facilities were as follows: the amount of savings, the type of fuel used for heating, i.e. reducing the emission of harmful gases, the number of users, regional distribution, etc.

Municipalities/cities and competent ministries nominated over 350 facilities at the beginning of the Project, and during the implementation the number of applications was constantly increasing. Based on the technical data on facilities, 79 facilities were selected on which preliminary energy audits were performed, defining expected savings after implementation of energy efficiency measures and a simple time of return on investment.

Before the beginning of implementation of energy efficiency improvement measures on the facilities anticipated for energy retrofitting, the Steering Committee decisions stipulated compiling memoranda on regulating the relations related to energy efficiency improvement, defining all important elements related to implementation of activities. In addition to the Ministry of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology, the signatories of the memoranda are also representatives of the competent ministries, representatives of cities/municipalities and representatives of end users (principals/directors of schools, hospitals, etc.).

Energy efficiency in the buildings of Republic of Srpska improved through the project, which led to a reduction in energy consumption, reduction of current energy costs, as well as to the improvement of comfort levels in the premises (reduction of noise, optimization of lighting, reaching ideal temperature, etc.).

The project consists of three components:

  • Investments in energy efficiency of public buildings;
  • Support for development of scalable financing mechanisms and capacity building;
  • Project management.

Component 1: Investments in energy efficiency of public buildings

Implementation of measures for improvement of energy efficiency was financed mainly in facilities from the domain of health and education (schools, hospitals, health centres, etc.). Energy efficiency measures include reconstruction of buildings in terms of wall insulation, replacement of joinery and hardware, roof insulation, changes to heating systems, lighting and other. Within this component, consulting services related to implementation of energy efficiency improvement measures were financed, such as: preparation of a detailed energy audit and design documentation, supervision, monitoring of energy consumption before and after the investment, etc.

Component 2: Support for development of scalable financing mechanisms and capacity building

Development of sustainable models for financing energy efficiency in public sector, strengthening of implementation capacities and support to raise public awareness on energy efficiency were funded.

Component 3: Project Management

Project management costs were financed, which include engagement of experts, operating costs, trainings and procurement of equipment.

THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Activities have been carried out within all three components during the Project implementation from May 2015 to December 2018. An overview of the funds spent by components has been given in the following table:

Number Project Component Contracted including VAT (BAM) Disbursed including VAT (BAM) % Not contracted including VAT (BAM)
1Component 1 21,226,997 20,978,936 98,8% 0
2Component 2 853,531 853,531 100% 211,998
3Component 3 1,057,607 990,014 93,6% 110,987
IN TOTAL 23,138,749 22,822,481 97,3% 322,986

During 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, tender procedures were conducted for selection of contractors in accordance with the World Bank Guidelines for 27 compounds for public purpose, i.e. 32 facilities.

Referring to the aforesaid buildings, we can divide them into 4 categories. The graphs show financial ratio between the categories in comparison to complete projected investment for works in terms of contracted and completed works.

Total funds disbursed by years by the Ministry of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology of Republic of Srpska:

Total disbursement for works per year in BAM including VAT

Sector2016201720182019
Education2,777,054.877,087,715.301,453,589.7848502.29
Healthcare6,167,202.13
Other160,398.4477,203.4295,652.07
In total2,937,453.31 13,332,120.851,453,589.78144,154.36

In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology of Republic of Srpska, which was concluded on 29th October 2015, cooperation between “BiH Energy Efficiency Project”, implemented by the Ministry, and the “Green Economic Development Project” (GED), implemented by UNDP, has been foreseen. The goal of the cooperation is joint implementation of energy efficiency measures in public sector buildings in Republic of Srpska, and details of cooperation have been defined through separate letters for individual facilities.

Up to January 2019, UNDP has co-financed a total of 13 facilities in the total amount of 2,333,115.03 BAM including VAT, while in 2019 further cooperation has been planned on implementation of measures for the purpose of increasing energy efficiency.

The Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency of Republic of Srpska has provided co-financing in the amount of 50,000 BAM and Municipality of Modriča in the amount of 30,000 BAM for the purpose of implementing the Pilot project for savings collection, which has been implemented at PI “Naša Radost” in Modriča.

The Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency of Republic of Srpska has provided co-financing in the amount of 163,000 BAM for preparation of technical documentation for reconstruction of public buildings.

ACHIEVED SAVINGS

In average, energy savings are about 60%, and they are based on the difference in energy required by the building before and after implementation of energy efficient measures in accordance with detailed energy audit. The average temperature before was between 15⁰C and 17⁰C degrees, while the average temperature after was between 20⁰ – 23⁰C.

The Ministry, with the support of UNDP, GIZ, USAID and the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency, organized three regional conferences on energy efficiency, which brought together all relevant ministers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia and around 250 experts in this field, and within which trainings on introduction of energy management at the municipal level were held.

INDICATORS OF ACHIEVED PROJECT DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The project has anticipated monitoring of achieved project results on the basis of 10 indicators, which can be changed after the first year of the project implementation.

Indicators of the achieved development goals of the Project are: long-term energy savings, pilot sub-project of alternative contracting or financing model, submission of proposals on scalable energy financing mechanism, efficiency of the Government of Republic of Srpska, long-term energy fuel savings, long-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, increasing end-user satisfaction, number of buildings that are certified in accordance with EU regulations, number of municipal energy managers who have undergone on-the-job training, number of sub-projects where the handover of construction works has been done, number of direct beneficiaries, number of female beneficiaries.