Region of Upper Palatinate (Oberfalz), Germany - Becoming a Sustainable European Region

This leaflet provides an update on the journey of the Region of Upper Palatinate (Oberfalz), Germany toward becoming a European Sustainable Energy Region

Summary

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Becoming a Sustainable European Region

Mission and Objectives

Sustainable energy policy requires persistent efforts for saving energy, improving energy efficiency and expanding renewable energy generation. Since many years, the energy company ZREU (Zentrum für rationelle Energieanwendung und Umwelt GmbH), is offering its expertise to private and public clients to improve energy performance. For ENNEREG, ZREU aims to develop following elements for a regional energy strategy of Upper Palatinate:

Regional energy data base on energy generation and consumption (esp. buildings sector, industry)
Recommendations for realising regional potentials for energy efficiency and renewable energy sources

These elements will be presented to regional government for a precise review. One important landmark for this work is the Energy Strategy of the Bavarian State (May 2011), setting ambitious targets for a sustainable energy supply until 2020/21:

Expansion of renewable electricity generation to a share of 50 % in reference to total electricity consumption and 20 % to final energy consumption
Reduction of energy-related per capita CO₂ emissions below 6 t/a
Reduction of heat demand by 20 % in the public, residential and trading sector and of demand for process heating by 10 % in the industrial sector

For achieving these objectives, the mission of ZREU is to support public and private organizations in the region of Upper Palatinate to contributing to these objectives by …

… developing a Sustainable Energy Action Plan focussing on regional potentials for improving energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources (focus on buildings and industry)
… capacity-building of regional organizations to remove barriers to implementation of sustainable energy projects (e.g. financing, improvement of social acceptance, etc.)
… assisting the establishment and operation of regional networks aimed at mutual knowledge transfer
… contributing to the development of a regional vision for a sustainable energy supply and convincing regional stakeholders to participate in the Covenant of Mayors

Energy in the State of Bavaria and the Region of Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz)

The diagram on the right is illustrating the distribution of final energy consumption in Upper Palatinate / Bavaria in 2008 over different energy sources. It illustrates the challenges arising from the objective of the Bavarian Energy Strategy to more than double the use of renewable energy sources in relation to total final energy consumption (up to 20 %).

Sustainable Energy Action in the Region of Upper Palatinate

One part of regional sustainable energy action is to improve the data basis on the generation and use of energy. By a stepwise approach, data on regional energy consumption in the building and industrial sector will be refined. Based on the results of a regional energy balance, more detailed analyses will illustrate existing energy saving potentials and potentials for the expansion of renewable energy sources.

The regional activities for initiating sustainable energy projects will focus on:

Energy-efficient buildings: carbon-neutral public buildings, schools, etc.
Renewable energy: PV, wind, biomass, etc.
Energy Services and Financing: contracting, public-private co-investment schemes, etc.
IE education: seminars on SEP financing, low-cost measures for improving energy efficiency

Twinning and Replication

The replication activity that is to ensure a European dissemination of successful regional projects will focus on projects in industry and renewable energy. The Czech region Karlovarský kraj (Carlsbad) is a potential twinning partner with twinning options especially in renewable energy.

Last updated: 15/11/2011 12:30pm - Contact: André SUCK -