Introduction

From the Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources to the Development Strategies of the Industrial Areas in Europe.
RESET Project is intended to verify the feasibility of the penetration of renewable energies in four European metropolitan areas:

• A.M.Barcelona (E)
• Glasgow (UK)
• Le Grand Lyon (F)
• Torino (I)
• St.Petersburg (RUS)

Objectives and target audience

The RESET Project was intended to verify the feasibility of the penetration of renewable energies in four European metropolitan areas with peculiar conditions, such as:

• large industrial infrastructure to be strongly reconverted in the future;
• need for a major change in labour perspectives;
• high pollution levels and environmental vulnerability.

The proposal came from the Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources worked out by the Commission of the European Communities for the European Parliament, that stimulated the cities involved in the RESET Project to develop an investigation on the feasibility of substituting 15% of the real primary energy consumption with renewable energy sources, within the year 2010.
The project was organised in four phases:

1. Background
2. Community Planning
3. General Planning
4. Conclusions and Recommendations

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Project Partners: Area Metropolitana de Barcelona, City of Glasgow, Grand Lyon, City of Torino, St. Petersburg City Government, Associated Contractors.
Project Co-ordinator: RESET e.e.i.g. SOFTECH Energia Tecnologia Ambiente
Associated Contractors: RESET e.e.i.g.

Process

Background. The first phase was devoted to assess the resources on which the future of the four cities’ economies lie, in order to transform the Renewable Energy strategy into local development, through the collection of existing main data and information on the energy and environmental system of the four industrial areas.
General Background of the Reset Cities. Common features were pointed out from the synthesis of the cities’ backgrounds:

• Non capital industrial cities but regional poles for local development
• Large industrial areas with problems of re-conversion
• Strong involvement in environmental policies
• Political commitment for co-operation and European integration
• Energy and Environmental Balances

Reset cities have prepared a synthesis of their own energy and environment balances as well as a description of the adopted methodology. A common format for the energy balance was set-up in order to facilitate the understanding of local energy utilisation and the general planning.
Review of Renewable Energy Projects. Reset Cities have prepared a detailed compilation of the renewable energy projects under development or already implemented. Some considerations were drawn after this analysis:

• Renewable projects are still micro-projects, with no specific policies
• Renewable energy projects were mainly promoted and supported by the private sector

Community. Amongst the objectives of this task of the RESET project was to ensure the relevance of the project to the local communities and to form community partnerships which will play important roles in successfully establishing renewable energy projects. It was essential that the views of the local community were fully understood during the process of developing renewable energy strategies. The skills, expertise, knowledge and experience of the members of the local community should be used to ensure that the full benefits of renewable energies are realised by using an appropriate consultation technique.
Glasgow . The first of the four events, co-ordinated by ECD and the City of Glasgow, was held in Glasgow on 28th and 29th September 1995. The first day was attended by about 25 members of Glasgow’s professional community, specially invited to represent the range of local interests and experience. The objectives of the first day were to represent a wide spectrum of interests in the development of renewable energy strategies. The activities during the first day included an informative talk on the key concepts of renewable energy technologies and a varied mixture of individual and group work including identifying the problems of Glasgow and the benefits of renewable energies, a planning game and the pledging of personal action plans. The objectives of the second day were to develop more specific ideas relating to a Renewable Energy Advice Centre (REAC) that could act as a focus for the Glasgow’s future renewable energy activities.
Torino. RAVE, the Turin Community Planning event took place on 17th November 1995. The event was co-ordinated by SOFTECH, who attracted participants with an imaginative publicity leaflet which demanded ‘Give me one good reason to attend RAVE!’ followed by a list of ’10 good reasons to come’. The program of events was based on the Local Scenario Workshop methodology. The most lively group was ‘The Next Generation’ (under 14 years old) who brought a fresh perspective to many of the issues. Each group was assisted by a facilitator, a provocateur and a note-taker.
At the end of each exercise, the groups came together to share their ideas and discuss their findings. Behind the scenes, the teams were processing the results on their portable computers, whilst the ideas were still fresh in their minds.
Grand Lyon. The Community Planning Forum for Lyon was held on 11th and 12th of December 1995, in the Council offices. It was planned and facilitated by the Department of Urban Development and by AGORA’. The majority of the participants, who attended by invitation only, had some previous interest in experience of renewable energies. The event format was unusual in French culture, since the participants were involved more actively than they would have been in a conventional meeting. The forum worked well and there was a good level of participant involvement. The impressive amount of presentations and displays ensured that all of those who attended had plenty of opportunity to improve their knowledge and understanding of the subject area.
Barcelona. The last Community Planning forum was held in Barcelona and hosted by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona on the 8th and 9th of February 1996. The programme followed the principles used in the previous three events.
It was planned and facilitated by the Environmental Services of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, and by ICAEN, who were responsible for the Workshop reporting. The participation to the Barcelona event was very comprehensive, including professionals, managers, and political responsibles, who were asked to compile and debate a list of innovative energy policies.
General Action Plan. The General Action Plan defined operational schemes for the four cities, by assessing the feasibility and the effectiveness of energy substitution programmes in conjunction with the necessary investments, by documenting the technical feasibility, the reference technologies, and the fields of application. Job creation and new employment opportunities were also matters of investigation.
In each city the strategy concerning renewable energies was formalised, by bringing together politicians, decision makers, experts and citizens representatives. After having created various scenarios for the year 2010, with the selection of the mix of technologies to couple future quality of life and energy needs, the preferred scenario is detailed, taking into account the following:

• Renewable Energies Potential assessment
• Environmental impact assessment
• Employment effects and social opportunities
• Economic impact
• Responsibilities for managing the plan

The appropriate actions, as outcomes of the Community Planning events, were extracted from the ideas and proposals of such a consultation and included in the General Planning, with the following procedure:
After having developed the Local Scenario Workshops in all four cities, a task involving each city consisted of extracting the most promising “energy policies”, among those discussed in the forum, and to translate them into “possible actions”.
This activity required a screening, made by each city with their consultants, selecting those ideas which were realistically convertible into actions for the administration, in the short, medium and long term.
The translation of policies into actions was helped by an “action form”, which included a pre-estimate of the potentiality, in terms of energy conservation or substitution.

As indicated above, the different steps in the Renewable Energy Action Plans were tested by the first group of cities. These steps, re-organised and defined after the conclusion of the RESET Project, can be summarised as follows:

Step 1:- City commitment

In general terms, accelerated renewable energy implementation fits very well in the objectives of cities that commit to improving the urban environment and developing Local Agenda 21 Action Plans. RE could also have important spin-offs for employment in construction and manufacturing industries on an urban and regional scale.

Step 2:- Collection of Background Information
The second step focuses on the assessment of resources on which the city’s future economy depends. This means collection of existing data and information on the energy and environmental systems in order to include the RE strategy into local development plans.

Step 3:- Energy and Environmental Balance
For the preparation of a synthesis of the city’s energy and environmental balance, a common framework was developed by RESET g.e.i.e., in order to facilitate cross-comparisons and action planning.  Software, with an operational manual and diskette (MS/Excel) is given to the city, when committed, and used either for the city’s own purposes or for homogeneous presentations among RESET cities.

Step 4:- Scenario Workshop
One of the objectives of RESET is to ensure the relevance of RE Action Planning to the local communities and to form community partnerships which will play important roles in successfully establishing renewable energy projects. It is essential that the views of the local community are fully understood during the process of developing RE strategies.

Step 5:- General Action Plan
After the Local Scenario Workshop, the local carriers extract the most promising energy “policies”, among those discussed in the forum, and translate them into possible “actions”. This activity requires a screening by the city and the RESET local carriers, selecting those ideas which are convertible into actions for the Administration, in the short, medium and long term.
The translation of policies into actions is supported by an “action form”, which is filled in with the collaboration of the participants in the Local Scenario Workshop. The result of the General Action Plan focuses on the following key aspects:

• RE potential assessment at the City level, having as a target the substitution of at least 12% of fossil fuels by the year 2010;
• Environmental impact assessment;
• Employment effects and micro-economic impact;
• Responsibilities for managing the plan.

Step 7:- Detailed Action Plan
A detailed description of “policies” and “actions” needs to be developed at this stage of the Action Planning. The policy helps to guide the change of specific rules, the development of regulations, budgets or program area plans. They should refer to all sectors of the city activity, typically:

• Residential building stock;
• Public and tertiary building stock;
• Mobility and transportation;
• Waste and resources;
• Economic and financial tools;
• Information and training.

The detailed description of the actions follows the format:

action goals;

• description;
• timing;
• financing;
• expected results.

Step 8:- Adoption of Key Actions
Stakeholders are invited to focus their activities on Key Actions, on which they might work and invest, becoming “Action-holders”. If these Action-holders are addressed effectively, they will “bend the trend” towards the plan of implementation.
The RESET Team organises local meetings with representatives of the Councils and with the participation of the “Action holders”, to illustrate and amend the description of policies and actions emerging from the Action Plan. The RESET Action Plan is approved by the Council.

Step 9:- Design of Actions
The actions forecast by the detailed Plan are transformed into individual projects to be carried out.
The design of the actions shows the phases and sub-phases to be carried out, the time scale, the responsibilities for each phase, the disaggregated cost and the financial cover.
Every action shows arrangements with the various discussion partners involved in the project.

Step 10:- Actions Implementation.
The transition from planning to action is crucial. The design of actions has created specific projects and the lead implementers must build on these commitments and start their work.
A minimum number of actions (at least 10% of the actions forecast) are selected.
The selected actions should cover different sectors of the plan: residential and public buildings, mobility, urban wastes, economy and financing, information and training.
The implementation phase starts, requiring the formal approval and the “financial cover”, from municipal resolutions, of the selected projects.
The municipal resolutions will certify the implementation of the selected actions.

Results

Step 10 – Action Implementation (Turin, A.M.Barcelona)
The City of Turin and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona have developed the fundamental steps of the RESET Action Planning (1995-1997) and have proceeded with a Council´s Resolution approving the Action Plan, followed by the implementation of the pilot actions (1998-2000)..

Step 8 – Adoption of Key Actions (Grand Lyon, Glasgow)
The Cities of Greater Lyon and Glasgow, after the development of the preliminary steps of the RESET Action Planning (1995-1997), have created the Local Teams and compiled the Detailed Action Plan, ending with the adoption of Key Actions for further implementation (1998-2000)

Step 5 – General Action Plan (Rotterdam, South Dublin)
With the participation in the RESTART Project, the City of Rotterdam and the South Dublin County Council have entered RESETnet. The two cities have developed the General Action Plan (1998-2000), a fundamental step for the action planning methodology, aiming at the assessment of a renewable energy strategy for the year 2010.

Step 2 – Collection of Background Information (Porto)
After the commitment, Porto has performed an homogeneous presentation of the actual energy balance in order to allow a cross comparison and a proper development of the general planning.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

In the last phase four forums for the public dialogue were created. Decision makers in a wide range of activities were brought into the dialogue regarding the results of both General and Community Planning and an initial package of measures was proposed to the citizens.
The following steps were included:

• Validation of the Renewable Energy Policy, having as a reference the participants to the Community Planning forums in the different RESET cities: a concise questionnaire, adapted to the different contexts, was proposed to the reviewers (local “carriers”) to be filled in with their written amendments
• Local meetings with representatives of the municipalities (for the Area Metropolitana of Barcelona and for the Greater Lyon) and the representatives of the Municipal Districts (for Turin and Glasgow), in order to illustrate and receive comments on the list of actions which emerged from the study
• Revision of the proposed actions by local municipal responsibles and gathering of the proposed amendments from the Municipal (or sub-district) Councils.