Center for Environment, Bosnia and Hercegovina 
„Solarna Pecka“ is an initiative aiming to bring a clean and sustainable energy source, solar energy, to Pecka village (in the Mrkonjic Grad municipality, Bosnia & Herzegovina), in the frame of the center for rural sustainable tourism “Visitor Centar Pecka”, and through a citizen’s community direct engagement and financing model. This initiative first step is focused in making solar prosuming possible in Pecka, exploring its actual potentials for further solar developments in the village.
Providing solar energy to Visitor center Pecka through prosuming means making the center’s activities more sustainable and environmentally friendly, that is, supporting innovative and alternative activities in Pecka’s rural community. By setting solar panels in Visitor Centar Pecka, its socio-educative capabilities will be upgraded, and with it, the resources it offers the local community. Besides, the energy sustainability and autonomy of the village itself will be improved.
All in all, along with promoting new activities in rural areas and new business models, it will empower the development of sustainable energy sources through direct citizen’s engagement model in Bosnia and Herzegovina by providing one of the first prosuming good practice example in the country.
This pioneer initiative is promoted by the Bosnian NGOs “Greenways” and “Center for Environment (CZZS)/Friends of the Earth Bosnia-Herzegovina”, supported by “Green energy cooperative (ZEZ)” from Croacia.
We are looking for partners and sponsors who want to engage with this initiative and contribute to its success. Besides, we will be launching an online crowdfunding campaign, aiming to engage private citizens actively and directly in making this first prosuming step possible in Pecka, with the installment of solar panels in the center’s roof, to produce warmth and electricity.
An approximate amount of 13,000 $ is needed for this purpose. The minimum amount to reach is 3,000 $, which will allow us to install solar thermal collectors to warm 300 l water. With the following 10,000 $ Photovoltaic panels with a maximum capacity of 5,4 kWp would be installed. If less financial resources are collected, the PV aimed system will be downsized and completed with future campaigns and actions.
This campaign is actually a challenge for us, due to the fact that crowdfunding is not a common practice still in B-H, as it is also solar prosuming. It is actually one of the first of this nature; we are decided to make from it a successful crowdfunding good practice example, success that your support will definitely reassure.
This initiative is strategically very important for Center for Environment (CZZS) out of different reasons: To begin with, in relation with our work in the “Energy and climate change” program and the “Stop dirty energy, because the future is renewable” campaign, where we advocate for and foster B&H decarbonization through sustainable energy sources -as solar and wind- and energy efficiency measures, in order to fight climate change and reduce its impacts on natural and human ecosystems, especially in local communities. It is especially important for us that this sustainable energy production is actually local and decentralised, through prosuming and community energy initiatives, promoting citizen’s and local community participation and making communities more climate resilient -as in this case of Solarna Pecka- in line with Friends of the Earth social and climate justice values.
On the other side, in relation with Center for Environment work with the “Coalition for the protection of rivers of B&H” preserving rivers from hydroenergy exploitation and supporting alternatives in terms of sustainable sources of energy and other economical activities with put into value river’s natural and cultural potentials (as tourism, outdoor sports, traditional practices) compatible with protecting and preserving the rivers ecosystem. This is especially important in this case, as the river Sana springs area, where Pecka is located, and its natural potentials, has been deeply damaged in the last period with the construction of the sHPP Medna close to the springs, a Hidroenergy project which Center for environment and the coalition for rivers have opposed and fought several years.
Furthermore, this prosuming “experiment” will allow Center for Environment to gather experience a real, direct, first-hand data on solar energy production performance on a short, middle and long term perspective, and the socioeconomic benefits it brings along, which will empower the argumentation in the advocacy for the development of such sustainable energy alternatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Having all these reasons in mind, and hoping your acknowledgment of the relevance of such an initiative in our context, we kindly ask you to become part of this initiative and to support this first prosuming step, publicly and financially, according to your possibilities. We will be indeed very pleased to have you on board.
Thank you in advance!
Contact:
Centar za posjetioce Pecka, Mrkonjić Grad
Kontakt osoba: Boro Marić +387 65 619 508
boro@greenways.ba
Centar za životnu sredinu, Banja Luka
Kontakt osoba: Sandra Josović +387 65 936 250
sandra.josovic@czzs.org
solarna-pecka@googlegroups.com
More info: facebook.com/solarnapecka/
