Crowdfunding platform project for energy efficiency, Croatia

Implemented by: North-West Croatia Regional Energy

The idea behind the project is to create a direct way for citizens to invest in infrastructure benefitting their own communities, to establish a regional crowdfunding platform specifically designed for financing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in 2015. The North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA) worked together with the Centre for Social Innovations and Sustainable Development (CEDIOR), which had previous experience in the field, technical expertise in the development of crowdfunding campaigns and web solutions for CF platforms, and it is working with the University of Zagreb in order to explore the potential for introducing the crowd lending model for fundraisers from the public sector. The CF platform and the first pilot project received significant interest from the media and local supporters. One campaign was successfully completed: the pilot project in the City of Pregrada, which ended officially on 15th April 2016, raised the targeted funds of € 10.000 to complete the renovation of the “Naša radost” kindergarten, and paved the way for similar projects in Croatia. The goal of this project was to make the kindergarten the most energy efficient in North-West Croatia. The energy investments involved the complete insulation of thermal envelope (including the roof), and the savings would be used for making new RES investments (solar collectors) and for developing educational programmes.