A first for Ireland: Galway City Council is awarded over €3.3 million in European Urban Initiative (EUI) Innovative Actions funding!
Innovative Actions (IA) projects are an important pillar of the EUI offer. As one of the most urban territories across the globe, the EU sees urban settings as strategic places to both face down the threats and embrace the opportunities around sustainable development. Challenging obstacles and change can't be overcome without strong and innovative thinking across multiple levels of policy and action. The European Commission sees cities as crucial to designing and implementing policy responses to the most local challenges.
Innovative Actions (IA) projects set out to support urban areas to design, test and deploy bold, experimental and innovative services and products as a solution to an urban challenge facing their city. IA solutions are co-created in a participative way for the applicant’s locality, engaging Delivery Partners, relevant stakeholder and target groups, but with transferability and scalability in mind. The solutions being developed enable four other cities from around Europe to follow the solution being developed and experiment in their own cities in bold and creative ways to effect meaningful change.
Galway’s WATERWAY project sets out to support Galway City Council’s climate goals during the 3.5 years timeframe of the project prior to implementation. Consisting of a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) budget of €3,363,222, it will tackle key challenges in the city, which include low renewable energy adoption, energy poverty and limited climate funding. The project is highly participative in nature and includes the University of Galway, Quirke Renewable Systems Limited, Galway City Community Network and the Northern and Western Regional Assembly (NWRA).
The project will install three small-scale hydropower systems in Galway’s historic waterways, helping to generate green energy and enhancing climate progress. Local energy production will be enabled, and surplus energy revenue will be reinvested into climate initiatives, such as renewable energy technologies. The innovative nature of the project’s approach will see disused canals repurposed for energy generation contributing to a circular economy and seeing profits used to invest in climate actions. It is envisaged that the hydropower sites will also service as sustainable tourist attractions. The expected outcomes of the WATERWAY project include increased renewable energy capacity, lower CO₂ emissions, reduced energy poverty and increased community resilience. It is also anticipated that a living lab will be set up after installation. Primarily supported by the University of Galway, this will lead to upskilling and employment creation.