30 energy experts meet together in the North West of Ireland

Partners, stakeholders, representatives from other NPA projects, local energy advisers and experts have met in Donegal for the SECURE seminar.

'Smarter Energy Communities' seminar in Letterkenny (Ireland).

Meenadreen wind farm in Donegal (Ireland).

Town of Manorcunningham in Donegal (Ireland).

SECURE partners during the project meeting.

SECURE project will finish its course next year and partners are getting ready for the final activities and achievements. This time, SECURE partnership has recently met in the town of Letterkenny (County Donegal, Ireland) for the 5th Steering Committee Meeting, some study visits and 'Smarter Energy Communities' seminar.

During the first day, on the 17th of October, around 30 energy experts from the North West of Ireland and partner regions in the project met together for the seminar, hosted by the lead partner ERNACT. Councillor Hugh Hastings, from Derry City and Strabane District Council (Northern Ireland), and Dr Caitriona Strain, SECURE project leader, welcomed attendees. Afterwards, many presentations related to energy efficiency and community knowledge took place:

Aisling Nic Aoidh, LECo Project Manager at Údarás na Gaeltachta, spoke about their 'Local Energy Communities' project, also part funded by the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme 2014-2020.
Nuala Carr, researcher at the Bryden Centre at Letterkenny Institute of Technology (Donegal), explained her coastal case-study and the community acceptance of the wind energy: environmental concerns, visual impacts, procedural & distributional justice, noise & health risks...
Donnan Joseph Harvey, secretary at Letterkenny Cathedral Quarter community group, talked about the restoration of historic properties, traditional building skills, energy efficiency measures and their ongoing local projects.
Michael Savage, Greenways Development Officer at Derry City and Strabane District Council presented the Greenways project in the North West of Ireland.
Project partner Paddy Mullen from Donegal County Council shared more about the activities of the 'Smarter Energy Communities Programme' developed through SECURE.
Anne Ford from Drumlin Wind Energy Cooperative (Northern Ireland) presented their work that is bringing lots of community benefits in their model.

During the evening, project partners had the opportunity to visit Meenadreen wind farm and the town of Manorcunningham to learn about energy efficiency measures in social housing.

On the following day, 18th of October, the partnership organised a meeting, hosted by the lead partner, to discuss about progress, project and finance management and the remaining communication and dissemination activities until the end of the project.