Regional Ecosystem 4: Zlín Region

The Zlín Region is located in the east of the Czech Republic, its eastern edge forming borders with Slovakia. With its area of 3,964 km2, Zlín Region is the fourth smallest region of the Czech Republic. The character of the region's territory is very diverse. There are 307 local authorities, with a population of 580,119 inhabitants (2021). Almost 200 enterprises with 100 or more employees operate in the industrial sector in the Zlín Region, which is the 5th rank compared to other 13 regions of the Czech Republic.

The Zlín Region and especially its regional energy agency is an important player in the ongoing energy transformation, while the creation of functional energy sharing models is one of its primary interests. The Energy Agency of the Zlín region (EAZK) was founded in 2006 as a non-profit organization owned by the city of Zlín. It functions as an advisory center for the region with the intention of helping the development of the region's territory by supporting the increase of energy efficiency, effectiveness and self-sufficiency of cities and municipalities. Energy transition strategy in the region is mainly defined by EAZK and later adopted by the region. Local authorities implement the energy transition through planning particular projects and individual implementation, only a few of them have a real Sustainable Energy Action Plan, or SECAP.

 
The 3 pilot sites are:
 
Vlčnov microregion
Vlčnov is a village in Uherské Hradiště District in the Zlín Region. It has about 3,000 inhabitants. PV plants are located on public buildings owned by the municipality of Vl?nov. The public swimming pool has its own 20 kW power plant, the rest of the consumption currently must be taken from the grid. The objective of the future energy community is to balance the consumption and production of power plants. Thus, the swimming pool will balance the rest of its consumption from the production of other power plants owned by the village. Similarly, other cultural buildings such as the football stadium or cultural center will consume this electricity.
 
Slavičín municipality
Slavičín is a town in Zlín District in the Zlín Region. It has about 6,200 inhabitants. In Slavičín, there is already an elaborate system of community energy measures, which enable the municipality to supply heat to about 2/5 of households from its own resources. This is made possible by a modern biomass heating plant and solar-powered heat pumps. Efficient use of solar energy is guaranteed with the help of battery storage, and the municipality's long-term plans also include the installation of a bladeless wind power plant. For its approach, the municipality achieved first place in the national competition "Inspirational Region of the Czech Republic”.
 
City of Zlín 
Zlín has about 74,000 inhabitants and it is capital city of the Zlín Region. The regional capital of Zlín and 8 city entities signed a partnership agreement to establish an association, the purpose of which will be to provide favorable electricity prices to its members. The goal will be to bring together other active entities and gradually increase the effect of the community. Through the participation to ECOEMPOWER, these actors will be gradually guided to the creation of an energy community. This corresponds to the development strategy of the City of Zlín and Teplo Zlín a.s. (the thermal energy distributor of Zlin) with the medium-term goal of installing new PV plants, potentially with a total output of 2.9 MWp.