Despite the significant efforts from the Municipality in recent years, most (97%) of the public and residential buildings in Smolyan are still characterized by high energy intensity, due to both the inefficient heating systems and the length of the winter season (6 month). 90% of the non-renovated buildings have energy consumption classes E, F and G. The central goal of the project is to introduce Energy Efficiency measures that include thermal isolation of the buildings, switching to using heat pumps and PV for the energy needs with the goal to create PEBs or, if that is not possible, to build smart grids to achieve PEDs and to develop legal and technical framework to enable the inclusion of multi- and single-family homes in PEDs. The city also intent to replace its old public transport vehicles with electric based ones and build PV-powered charging stations with enough power to cover the energy needs of the new vehicles.
The plan is to insulate public buildings insulation and build a Solar Car Park with 400 parking places. The solar roof will charge the electric vehicles and provide electrical energy to the grid. Solar capacities will be installed on five public buildings during the renovations. They foresee the replacement of public lighting with LED panels. The city plans to introduce sensors in rubbish bins to optimize the collecting routes and reduce operational costs (waste management). They also wish to extend the E-bus fleet and purchase 12 new electric buses. The current solar power plant will be extended by 6 hectares with 9600 panels. Finally, there is a plan to establish a biogas facility that uses agricultural waste and by-products.