Peer review visit Suwałki, Poland

On September 24-25, 2024, there was a visit of GIA project partners from Denmark (https://www.symbiosis.dk/en/), Lithuania (https://www.lic.lt/en/lithuanian-innovation- center/) and Germany (https://www.naturwind.de/). 

On the first day of the visit, our partners visited the Suwałki Special Economic Zone (https://ssse.com.pl/), which is our partner in the project. During our visit to Suwałki, we had the opportunity to see the Malow company (https://malow.com.pl/), which is one of the examples of companies from the Suwałki Special Economic Zone investing in renewable energy. Thanks to photovoltaic panels, in peak months up to 31.5% of the energy used in the company during the production of metal furniture comes from renewable energy. Malow also obtained permission to build another 7.5 MW photovoltaic farm. Energy from this farm will be distributed to companies from the Suwałki Economic Zone. This investment is to be completed by June 2025.

After visiting the Suwałki Economic Zone, the project partners drew attention to the large area covered by the Suwałki Special Economic Zone (the area of ​​the Suwałki subzone is almost 180 ha including roads), as well as the benefits resulting from companies investing in its area. 

On the second day of our partners' visit, we visited the Podlaskie Voivodeship Marshal's Office. During the meeting, programs addressed to entrepreneurs in the field of renewable energy were discussed, such as: support for enterprises in the field of Renewable Energy Sources under FEdP 2021-2027, as well as financial instruments in the form of loans. 

The next point on the program was a visit to Masterpress S.A. (https://masterpress.com/pl/), which is another example of a company from the zone investing in renewable energy, as well as using sustainable infrastructure solutions. The company received the valued EcoVadis Silver certificate. This distinction puts Masterpress in the top 15% of companies around the world that meet rigorous sustainability criteria.

The project partners were impressed by the solutions used by the company, continuous investments as well as the entire production plant.