Creative energy

Renewable power projects really can work. On a serious scale. Here’s the living proof – and a challenge for Britain to match.

An island in Denmark, a Dutch army town, two Austrian cities, a Spanish district famous for its bulls, and Sweden’s second city. All six are home to schemes that have become iconic across Europe for their ambition, can-do attitude and creative thinking.And, say experts, they’re in a different league to anything that’s happening in the UK.

The six cities’ experience were on show at a conference hosted by the Cornwall Sustainable Energy Partnership – in an effort to pass on lessons from their success to the Brits.

Tim German, CSEP director, reckons Britain is 15 years behind the best of Europe. “Leadership at local level gets squashed so easily,” he says. “We had 200 people in the audience, all saying: ‘Bloody hell, what is going on here?’ These are well thought out projects. Some fit a need the UK is calling out for – and yet we have nothing of this scale here.”

Helen Clarkson, acting director of Forum for the Future’s Public Sector Programme believes the lag can be explained by the UK’s political structure: “In Europe, the assumption of subsidiarity – things happening by default at a local or regional level – means that more happens on energy projects. We don’t have a track record of this in the England, but Denmark, for example, has been investing in local heat and power schemes since the ‘70s.”

1 Navarra

Navarra, northern Spain, is most famous for hosting one of Europe’s most controversial festivals – the running of the bulls in Pamplona, celebrating the power of nature let loose in city streets.

But now another kind of natural power has made the world turn its head. From Pamplona you can see wind turbines on the surrounding hills. There are more than 30 wind farms in the region, which produces some 65% of its electricity from renewable sources, creating some 6,000 jobs.

Other renewable technologies which have benefitted from local investment include mini-hydro, biomass and solar power – and government education efforts have helped win solid backing from the community. A 2001 survey showed 85% of Navarrans backed the implementation of wind power, with only 1% against – although earlier surveys showed significant numbers thought it would disfigure the landscape.

Navarra’s autonomy means it can make quick decisions, explains Enrique Díaz Moreno, director general of industry for the region. Its investment in linking renewable energy sources to the electricity grid, for instance, helped give entrepreneurs the confidence to move into the sector. “Other regions have more wind, more sun, even more money. So what’s the difference? Infrastructure. Navarra invested in [energy] infrastructure 20 years ago, and now we are able to move [the] energy around.”

2 Güssing

Some communities invest in renewables principally to help protect the environment. In Güssing, southeast Austria, it was done out of economic need. Located almost at the Hungarian border, Güssing was a backwater until the Iron Curtain fell. Its population was ageing, as young people left to find work, leaving behind a city with acute fuel poverty and unemployment problems.

So, in 1991, Güssing started working on cutting fuel bills – encouraged by local leadership – before moving on to investing in renewables.

"The mayor of Güssing jokes that he went to the top of the hill to throw himself off because the books wouldn’t balance. But from the top he could see assets they’d never thought about: forestry, farmland and sunshine"

“They’ve got a castle in Güssing, on the top of a hill,” says Tim Evans, managing director of Renewable Zukunft, which promotes and advises on European renewable energy projects in the UK. “The mayor jokes that he went to the top with a view to throwing himself off because the books wouldn’t balance. But when he got to the top he could see assets they’d never thought about: forestry, farmland and sunshine.”

A key early project, opened in 1996, was a €10.1 million biomass district heating plant using fuel from wood chips. This provides heating and hot water to houses via a 27-km grid, without the need for individual boilers. In all, there are more than 30 renewable energy projects, including biodiesel, biogas and photovoltaic plants.

Güssing is now home to the European Centre for Renewable Energy, and companies in the region export renewable energy technologies and expertise internationally. From spending €6.2 million on energy in 1991, the municipality now generates €13.6 million from the sector – with 1,000 new jobs created and 50 companies attracted to the area since then.

3 Apeldoorn

Apeldoorn, in the Netherlands, is a civilised sort of city,on the edge of a national park. But local leaders aren’t complacent: they have set a target of getting 100% of their energy from sustainable sources by 2020 – even though studies suggest they might only get half as far.

In one project, the city renovated 364 houses in the St Joseph social housing community – fitting better insulation, replacing boilers, and adding rooftop photovoltaic panels that produce up to 1MW of energy in total. Renewable energy subsidies from various sources made up around half of the €11.75 million project costs. Tenants accepted a €20-€25 per month rent increase to help pay for the work; and in return the energy company promised them an equivalent amount off their fuel bills.

“It’s a good example of how social housing can deal with existing housing stock,” says German. “They made a plan for energy saving measurements – and communicated it well.”

4 Samsø

The Danish island of Samsø is perhaps Europe’s best- known renewable energy project. This speck of land in the Kattegat Sea, home to 4,500 residents, gets 100% of its electricity and most of its heat from renewables – and the community is at the centre of the scheme.

The island has 21 wind turbines, of which ten are offshore – with five owned by the municipality. Many houses have installed technologies such as solar heating and heat pumps. Islanders were able to invest in the co- operatives that financed the wind farms and other renewable energy projects – giving partial community ownership of the scheme.

"Other regions have more wind, more sun, even more money. So what’s the difference? Investment in infrastructure"

“One of the keys is that we didn’t leave anybody out,” says Søren Hermansen, director of the Samsø Energy Academy. “It’s not a social project, but it has to benefit everybody.

“Some people thought wind power would scare tourists away,” but that’s far from being the case; the island now attracts additional eco-tourists – and with tourism the main source of income for the community, that’s good news for everybody.

So how can communities in Britain replicate the success? “Make an energy balance sheet for each local area,” Hermansen says, “and start making progress on simple targets.”

5 Linz

The Linz Solar City is no ordinary suburban development. Located 7km outside the northern Austrian city, it was designed to be sustainable and affordable – and it looks purpose-built for the 21st century.

Its hub is a tram station, with shops, a church and bars – and 1,300 modern buildings grouped around it. The most striking are laid out in the form of an amphitheatre, so that each gets maximum benefit from the sun.

“Virtually every building has some kind of solarpanels on it – solar thermal or photovoltaics,” says German. “The whole thing is supported by a biogas power plant 2km away.”

“Political leadership was crucial,” he adds, pointing out that the municipality of Linz made the decision in the early ’90s to invest in sustainable affordable housing. “It wasn’t until the late ’90s that they pulled the plans together, but within four years, people were moving in.”

6 Gothenburg

Persuading motorists to choose renewable fuels such as biogas can be a chicken and egg problem. You can’t build filling stations without cars, and you can’t sell the cars without the filling stations.

So how has Gothenburg, Sweden, come to lead the way in renewable fuels in transport?

Firstly, through unique organisation: the 13 municipalities in and around the city joined forces with private companies such as Volvo and Hertz, plus farmers and government agencies, to create Biogas West – a consortium to invest in and promote biogas.

Then, says Maria Hammar, a consultant with KanEnergi Sweden who has spent “many hours lobbying for biogas”, the consortium made use of existing infrastructure. It produced biogas at the region’s existing sewage and waste treatment plants; then used the existing natural gas grid as a backup system, to maintain a constant supply of fuel for bus fleets.

Now the government and participating councils have backed plans to build 200 new biogas stations – expansion which could mean drivers use 35 million fewer litres of petrol and diesel, cutting carbon emissions by 50,000 tonnes a year.

Biogas can be a force for business development too, Hammar says. “If you’re in a rural area, biogas can be produced by farmers [from livestock waste], which leads to new ways of making money.”

Seven energy lessons from Europe
- Chris Alden

26 October 2007

Chris Alden

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