Derry, UK

Derry City & Strabane District Council is located in Northern Ireland and has a population of approximately 148,000 inhabitants with an area of 1,245KM2, mostly in a rural setting. However, the majority of the population in centered in the city of Derry, the second largest urban area in Northern Ireland.

In view of the quality of life of its citizens, the council intends to implement ambitious measures to increase the energy efficiency in housing as well as in public buildings and infrastructures and to support the local generation of renewable energy. In keeping with its strategy to encourage the sustainable development of the region the council aims to cut its CO2emissions and energy use by 20% by 2020 and to increase the uptake of renewable energy technology.  To achieve this objective, the council plans to optimise the development of the natural gas network and to set up a smart grid pilot project to include a mix of energy sources including renewable energy in the electricity network. Furthermore, within the city there is an extensive network of public charging points for Electric Vehicles and the council is actively pursuing a strategy to increase the uptake of electro-mobility within the city and the wider region.  

As a member of the Replication Cluster, the city of Derry intends to build on the experiences accumulated in the SINFONIA and EU-GUGLE project to develop its own strategy for energy-efficient building refurbishment.