The North-West City Region Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) aims to progress on decarbonisation of our region through “Local Green Deals”. The local ICC team has had a busy few months building engagement locally and with other EU cities and policy makers.
Developing collaboration and engagement for a Positive Energy District in Strabane was the focus of an ICC workshop, "Net Zero: Decarbonising Strabane", held on July 2 in Strabane Library and the room was certainly full of positive energy and enthusiasm!
Positive Energy Districts are “energy-efficient and energy-flexible urban areas or groups of connected buildings which produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions and actively manage an annual local or regional surplus production of renewable energy”. Building collaborative agreement for the Positive Energy District is one of the City Region’s “Local Green Deal “ initiatives under the ICC programme.
Derry City & Strabane District Council (DCSDC) organised this event , attended by government agencies, education authority, businesses, university experts, housing association, community representatives, utility organisations and renewables associations.
The discussions are part of engagement with key stakeholders, building understanding of what a Positive Energy District could look like and the range of benefits it can bring to citizens, businesses, local authority and to our region’s carbon footprint. The discussions also aim to start to capture the requirements of stakeholders for the Positive Energy District.
During the workshop ICC lead expert Saverio Romeo outlined the ICC approach in Local Green Deals. Participants heard about key opportunities from the Derry City Deal projects, including the Smart Derry Strabane Programme, the Strabane Town Centre Regeneration Project and Strabane EV Infrastructure development with presentations respectively from Louise Breslin, Joanne Bennison and Ann Artt of the DCSDC. Experts Dr. Ruchira Ghosh and Dr. Adrian Pugsley from the University of Ulster guided the round table discussions and provided a deep-dive into relevant concepts. The work continues with a follow up planned for September.
Intelligent Cities Challenge Conference in Porto
The Intelligent Cities Challenge Conference on Local Green Deals and Mayors-Business Forum took place in Porto, Portugal, on June 18-19, 2024. This event facilitated roundtable discussions between mayors, local authority leaders and business leaders, aiming to leverage city capacities for Europe's clean tech and digital tech industries.
Key discussions centred around the importance of city-business partnerships in driving the green transition through Local Green Deals and reshoring industrial capacity. The focus was on integrating green and local action plans, accelerating net-zero technologies, creating industrial zones, and utilizing AI and digital twins. These strategies are seen as vital for regenerating local economies and creating new opportunities for European businesses and citizens.
The ICC North-West Ireland City Region team, along with business partners and local authorities, participated in the event, discussing Local Green Deals to drive cross-border climate actions towards a net-zero region. Claire Thompson from KPM Soils presented "Grow, Eat, Compost, Repeat," a circular economy Local Green deal for soil regeneration which is currently being developed in Inishowen, Donegal with stakeholders across the North West region.
Adam Goodall from Derry City & Strabane District Council gave an overview of the Local Green Deal , a Positive Energy District for Strabane Town Centre.