TREND – Training for Renewable Energy Network Development (01.09.2014-31.08.2016)

The Training for Renewable Energy Network Development (TREND) project, co-financed by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Programme, is implemented by a transnational consortium covering three different EU countries: Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia. The project’s consortium is led by the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Osijek and formed by other eight organisations which are as follows: EUROPÉER Foundation (HU), ECOsynergy Ltd. (HU), IMRO-DDKK Ltd. (HU), University of Maribor (SI), International Development Norway (NO), South Transdanubian Regional Development Agency (HU), Regional Development Agency of Slavonia and Baranja (HR) and NGO EU Centar (HR).

The two-year project aims at fostering the renewable energy potential of the Drava River Croatia-Hungary-Slovenia Cross Border Region by carrying out trainings addressing local SMEs, NGOs, municipality opinion leaders and higher education students in order to provide them with all necessary knowledge and skills to launch a series of local renewable energy initiatives.

In doing so, the TREND project will map regional best practices and identify key competences needed for implementing successfully renewable energy initiatives. As a second step, four eLearning modules will be developed under the following topics: biomass to energy, renewable energy technology, energy efficiency and project management). Moreover, an International Learning Management System (LMS) will be established by project partners for educating target groups selected from the three participating countries.

Activities to be implemented by the project will result in a number of intellectual outputs listed below:

1. International renewable energy best practice handbook: state-of-art renewable energy initiatives undertaken in the member regions will be summarised. A previous survey will identify strong and weak points of the national good practices which will serve as a basis for defining additional requirements to the training material. In this guiding book, findings of the national surveying processes will be also described and made available for downloading.
2. Self-assessment tool for target groups: An internet-based competency self-assessment tool will be developed and tested on 10 members of each target group. Based on the results of the individually implemented self-assessments a comprehensive methodology will be elaborated to be able to tailor training modules according to strengths and weaknesses identified during the competency assessment.
3. Four interactive eLearning modules including:
   • Biomass to energy e-learning module
   • Renewable energy technology e-learning module
   • Energy efficiency e-learning module
   • Project management e-learning module

More information on the project and its activities, in which IMRO-DDKK Nonprofit Ltd. also participates actively, is available on the project website.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This website reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.