Skopje

Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, a city located in the heart of the Balkan Penisula, at the crossroad of vital communications, a city with a 2000 years old tradition. Skopje covers 1818 square kilometers, 23 kilometers in length, 9 kilometers in width and located at an average altitude of 245 meters. The coordinates of the city are: North latitude 42º 00' and East longitude 21º 26’.

City of Skopje has great history roots. It has been inhabited since at least 3500 BC. Skopje today according to the latest official census in 2002, has 506.926 inhabitants but the real number, including the wider city area, is above 600 000 inhabitants. As the largest city and the capital of the state, Skopje is political, administrative, economic, cultural and educational center. Despite the turbulent history of the Balkans, Skopje has blossomed into a thriving, stimulating city to explore, defining itself as superb tourist destination.

The City of Skopje consists out of 10 municipalities, from which 5 have urban and rural parts on their territory.

The vision of the City of Skopje is its citizens to live in developing, economic, social, environmental and energy efficient city.
In 2010 Skopje became part of the initiative of Mayors Agreement (Covenant of Mayors), and in 2011 the Council adopted the Action Plan for sustainable energy development of the City of Skopje (EAPC) and has committed to implement measures and activities in the field of energy efficient buildings, transport and public lighting to reduce CO2 by more than 20% for the period 2008-2020.

To fulfill the above mentioned purpose  the City of Skopje within these recent years implemented a number of activities, such as opening the Info Centre for Energy Efficiency, adopted the annual program of the City of Skopje for energy efficiency in traffic, opened Centre for traffic management, continuously reconstruct and build energy efficient transportation infrastructure, reconstruct secondary schools and cultural institutions, support the reconstruction of private buildings, completed the replacement of more than 95% of street lighting, create and implement policy on parking places, promote bicycle as a means of transportation, purchase of e-bicycles and e-scooters  for the need of the city administration, promote and create conditions for the introduction of tram transport. Also, the City started the realization of the idea to turn waste into energy through the transformation of a public enterprise in modern landfill in which one third of the waste will be transformed into energy.

Skopje is open for cooperation and creation of partnerships and networks that offer the possibility for realization of the set goals that will help to enhance the lives of its citizens. Skopje is / was a partner in several European projects through whose implementation the citizens have a possibility to improve their knowledge related to energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources. One of these projects is also the Ele.C.Tra Project, which in some ways was a stepping stone to the field of electromobility as in Skopje and in the state.