Establishment, Aims and Activities

Sofia Energy Agency was established in July 2001 under the SAVE II Program of the European Union. As specified in the contract with EU, the newly established agencies, ENERGIEBUREAU LIMBURG (Holland) and APEA (Italy) are partners of SOFENA (Bulgaria) and will coordinate their activities during the three years term of the contract.
According to its statute, SOFENA is a non-governmental organization and non-profit legal entity. Its founders are the Sofia Municipality, the State Energy Efficiency Agency, the Sofia district heating utility - "Toplofikacia", the big private construction company - "Glavbolgarstroy" and 14 private persons (representatives of scientific institutes, universities, consumers and business organizations).
THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF SOFENA ARE:
· To assist Sofia Municipality in developing a sustainable energy policy;
· To develop models for Sofia Municipality energy planning and to support their implementation;
· To involve the intellectual potential of the capital city in solving problems, concerning energy efficiency and implementation of new energy saving and ecological technologies;
· To reveal possibilities and to participate in projects, financed by foreign institutions, in the area of sustainable energy policy, energy savings and ecology;
· To establish and develop international contacts with related organizations in European Community and other countries for transferring know-how and up-to-date technologies;
· To contribute for the dissemination of positive experience of finalized projects in the area of energy efficiency, new energy sources and clean technologies;
· To initiate, assist, and support scientific and implementation work, research programs and projects in the field of energy efficiency and new technologies;
· To cooperate with other non-profit organizations with similar activities;
· To carry out research and to propose solutions for implementation of new schemes for financing energy efficiency projects;
· To complete preliminary studies for investment projects;
The team of the agency consists of five persons. During the last three years most of them worked for the Energy Efficiency Foundation and have been involved in the development of different projects, important for the City of Sofia.
As a coordinator of the activities in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, SOFENA works in co-operation with specialists from the Sofia Technical University, the Architecture and Construction University, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and with private companies. For participation in EU financed projects the partnership is in progress with international consulting firms, institutes, agencies and NGOs. The Agency will look for partners and strategic investors for all the above-mentioned topics.

THE MAIN ACTIVITIES OF SOFENA:

The main activities of the Agency are being carrying out according a detailed program to cope with the energy problems of the City of Sofia, as follows:
· Assessment of the energy consumption and initiation of energy saving projects in the municipal, residential, industrial and office buildings;
· Assessment of the possibilities for energy savings in Sofia public transport and stimulation of corresponding projects.
· Development of a strategy for achieving energy efficiency of the street lighting;
· Development of proposals and participations in projects for increasing the efficiency of existing energy generating utilities in Sofia Municipality;
· Studies to identify the main transport and industry air pollutants and work out measures for decreasing the pollutions;
· Development of proposals for decreasing environment pollution and its impact on climate change;
· Assessment of the potential for implementation of renewable energy sources and supporting projects in that area.
· Investigations for the implementation of new schemes for financing the energy saving projects, as well as the implementation of flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol;
· Development of proposals for improvement of the legal basis concerning the stimulation of projects for energy efficiency and environment protection.

SOFENA is one of the founders of Association of Bulgarian Energy Agencies - ABEA (established on 10th January 2003) and during the first two years of its work the chairmen of the management board will be the executive director of SOFENA and the headquarter coincides with the SOFENA's address.

As a member of ABEA, SOFENA takes part in the DG TREN Reflection Group's activities.(www.managenergy.net)

Since July 2003 SOFENA is a member of Energie-Cites - Association of European Energy Agencies for sustainable local energy policy.

Since July 2004 SOFENA is a member of ENERGY UTILIZATION BIOMASS ASSOCIATION, member of the European Biomass Association

For contacts:
Assoc. Prof. Ivan Shishkov
Executive Director