On Monday, 13 February 2023, we signed an umbrella agreement with the public company Energetika Ljubljana and the company ELES on cooperation in the field of connecting the heating and cooling sectors with the electricity sector. With the agreement, we undertake to prepare a joint strategy that will contribute to the green transition at the level of local communities.

Like other EU members, Slovenia has committed itself to sustainable energy development and thus to a green transition, which will not be easy – neither from a technological nor from a financial point of view. Specific technical solutions are still being developed, such as the conversion of excess electricity into hydrogen, its storage, transport and reuse. Namely, the extent and speed of the green transformation will also depend on the development of this technology.

The companies Energetika Ljubljana and ELES, therefore, decided to combine the competencies of employees and identify common project goals in the field of electricity and thermal energy production that are realistically feasible and to find suitable strategic partners and sources of financing for them, especially in the area of grants.
The umbrella agreement signed for this purpose by the Mayor of the City of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, the director of Energetika Ljubljana, Samo Lozej, and the director of ELES, Aleksander Mervar, thus represents the foundation for a non-profit integration of the remote energy system and the electric power system, with the goal of joint operation, the effects of which will be for the exclusive benefit of local communities, the economy and the country.

In the joint strategy, which we will prepare by the end of the summer, we will present potential projects in more detail, define mutual roles and partnerships, and the necessary funding sources for the successful implementation of projects of intersectoral integration in the light of the green transition.