At the beginning of the week, on March 12th and 13th, 2024, in Koprivnica, Regional Energy Agency North hosted kick-off meeting of the RuralMED Mobility project, bringing together partners from 8 European countries (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Croatia).
The lead partner of the RuralMED Mobility project, Extremadura Regional Energy Agency (AGENEX), in the introductory presentation on the first day of the meeting, reminded partners of the obligations and responsibilities outlined in the Subsidy Contract and Partnership Agreement, and explained the decision-making process at the consortium level.
During the working part of the meeting, Mihaela Babic, Senior Project Manager of the North-West Croatia Regional Energy and Climate Agency (REGEA), presented the objectives and key upcoming activities of the Green Living Areas thematic area from the Interreg Euro-Med program.
Following the working part of the meeting, a visit to the pilot location was organized, where a charging station for electric vehicles will be installed in front of the Health Center in the municipality of Kalnik as part of the project.
Zvonimir Perko, Project Manager at REA North, presented technical details and the procurement process for the future charging station to partners and representatives of the Municipality of Kalnik.
In addition to the Kalnik municipality, the RuralMED Mobility project envisages the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in the municipalities of Gornja Rijeka, Ferdinandovac, and Gola.
On the second day of kick-off meeting, organized by REA North and the Koprivnica-Krizevci County, an international conference on the Development of Electromobility in Rural Areas was held at the Community Open University in Koprivnica.
Alongside project partners, representatives of higher education institutions, local and regional government units, representatives of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, and representatives of electric mobility solution providers participated in the conference.
Among other topics, conference participants were presented with measures from the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund to promote electromobility, charging infrastructure, current data on the number of electric and hybrid vehicles registered in Koprivnica-Krizevci County, challenges in managing charging infrastructure, and opportunities for utilizing public lighting infrastructure for building electric vehicle charging stations.
