The ProRetro project is coming to a close. In the Hanover region, the One-Stop-Shop was offered through the Modernisation Partner Network. The local project team, consisting of the Climate Protection Agency of Hanover Region and proKlima – the enercity fund, was able to convince the Modernisation Partner Network of the benefits of the concept.
A major advantage that the project team offered the Modernisation Partner Network, which already existed before the project began, was the simplification and acceleration of work processes. Both customers and Modernisation Partner Network benefited equally from the project team’s One-Stop-Shop services. The employees of the Hannover Region Climate Protection Agency acted as a back office and interface between customers, contractors, energy advisers, financial institutions and other companies involved in energy renovation.
However, the creation and development of the One-Stop-Shop was no easy endeavour. Triggered by the pandemic and the resulting massive changes in the construction industry, the project team had to rethink its strategies and assumptions and adapt them to the new circumstances. Key challenges were the shortage of materials and rising prices of gas and oil, which led to an enormous interest in the services of contractors and energy advisers. This development made it increasingly difficult to mobilise additional resources to set up and manage the One-Stop-Shop.
All enquiries to the One-Stop-Shop were handled by the Climate Protection Agency of Hannover Region. The contact and coordination was therefore largely carried out by the employees of the Climate Protection Agency. This had the great advantage for the customers that there was a contact person for questions and advice and that the coordination of the measure was then initiated and driven forward by this person.
Digitalisation as an opportunity for the renovation wave
Increasing the number of renovations can only be achieved with the help of efficient techniques and processes. Working methods such as automation and digitalisation not only simplify the day-to-day work of everyone involved, but also lead to a greater number of implementations. Corresponding efforts must begin now. The industry can only scale and create sustainable infrastructures if it utilises the good market conditions to prepare for a poor market situation in the future.
These developments have been reflected in the cooperation with the Modernisation Partner Network. The number of enquiries reaching the partners in the network were and are very high, so the need for scaling and digitalisation in enquiry coordination is imperative. Only then will the One-Stop-Shop lead to a reduction in the workload of the partners in the network.
The future of the One-Stop-Shop for Hanover Region
The Modernisation Partner Network therefore decided to make a new start in October 2023. Die Energieingenieure, a company with extensive experience in digital and automated formats, is taking over the management. The new management plans to scale up the One-Stop-Shop and optimise it using digital processes. This is intended to reduce personnel costs in project management and make the One-Stop-Shop tool usable for the further promotion of the network. As things stand at present, this means that the Modernisation Partner Network will likely operate as a privately run and self-financed One-Stop-Shop in the long term.
The partners in the network have made it clear that they would like to convert the One-Stop-Shop developed by the project team into a digitalised format in the long term. An advisory campaign developed by the Climate Protection Agency Hannover Region will help to generate the necessary demand. Quality assurance in the Modernisation Partner Network is ensured by the advisory board memberships of the Climate Protection Agency and proKlima – the enercity fund.
Advice supports the One-Stop-Shop’s work
Since the end of 2022, the Climate Protection Agency has greatly expanded its advisory services. Information and advice content is being made available to a significantly larger number of people in the Hanover Region in more diverse, modern ways. This is because demand for advice is increasing enormously due to the rising CO2 price and new legislation. At the same time, the aim is to ease the burden on the contractors. Ideally, partner companies will then meet pre-informed interested parties.
Thanks to the information events, topics such as roof pitch, solar cadastre, different types of heat pumps, calculating the profitability of investments and how the relevant technologies work are no longer completely new to them. In the Hanover Region, (small) group advice sessions and online events therefore play a major role alongside individual on-site advice and face-to-face events. General information and initial knowledge reaches larger numbers of people with new advisory formats. In 2023, more than 3,600 people took part in these new advisory formats. In this way, the Climate Protection Agency has provided valuable advice hours for individual questions on the partner side as soon as a certain level of prior knowledge has been imparted. Newly employed energy advisers ensure high quality and availability of knowledge transfer for all citizens in the Hanover Region. This applies online and offline for group advice sessions, events and in-depth specialist advice. Interested parties are taken by the hand and guided on a path to climate neutrality. Typical solutions simplify decisions.
New advice formats
Neighbourhood consultations, group consultations, solar forums, energy get-togethers and regulars’ table formats, heat pump forums and an extended range of lectures are a quick and unbureaucratic way of meeting the various needs of those seeking advice. As a short-term alternative to individual on-site advice, online group advice sessions on the topics of solar, heating and building renovation can now be booked several times a month for 5 to 10 people. In addition, lectures on the same topics are held several times a week online and in person in each regional municipality. This provides all those seeking advice with in-depth expertise and prompt answers to their individual questions.
Energy get-togethers or regulars’ table formats were also set up or continued in half of all regional municipalities. This means that interested parties now have regular opportunities to get answers on the use of solar energy and other energy renovation measures from energy advisers and other experts.
This constitutes the multi-pronged approach for the Hanover Region: The Climate Protection Agency of Hanover Region provides information and advice, while the Modernisation Partner Network creates a digitalised One-Stop-Shop.