30 Οκτ Thematic roundtable in Bitola
The thematic roundtable was organized by NEA and the Municipality of Novaci, with the support of the Municipality of Bitola, which assisted in the mobilization of local stakeholders and media. The first thematic roundtable of aGROWchain which concerns the management of agricultural waste for heating rural areas, gave the opportunity for an effective and direct communication between the partners involved in the project, direct stakeholders and producers of agricultural waste.
A number of presentations were given by the speakers, covering from the presentation of the aGROWchain project itself, up to more technical and locally-specific information providing slides. Prof. Dr. Mile Spirovski from the TFB presented biomass using and its advantages in comparison with other energy sources. Prof. Dr. Vladimir Mijakovski gave an overview about current situation in hydrographic network (rivers and channels) within the area of the Municipality of Novaci as potential for collecting biomass as resource for the green energy.
In addition, Dr. Fallas Director of Cluster Bioenergy and Environment of Western Macedonia (CluBE) presented examples of good practices of other countries and stressed the necessity and benefits of the project and pointed out that such an endeavour requires coordinated action and possibly common tools, such as Clusters and, following that, cross-border cluster cooperation. .
In the meeting, the participants discussed the region’s potential for multi-purpose biomass support and especially the issue of reed growing and future harvesting for use as a biomass fuel. The thematic roundtable opened the floor to the participants for communication and exchange between stakeholders and producers.
During the meeting, both the project partners and other project stakeholders analysed their views on the cost of generating power plants, the cost of producing and purchasing agricultural waste, and the cost of selling per unit.