European LEADER+ Renewable Energy Network (ELREN) Final report

Transcription

1 European LEADER+ Renewable Energy Network (ELREN) Final report March 2008

2 Content 1. Introduction Project history Objective Organization and planning Budget Activities WP1: Databank and website WP2: Training handbook and the course for the trainers WP3: field trips WP4: project conferences Project results Network Other project results WP1: Databank and website WP2: Course for the trainers and training handbook WP3: Field trips WP4: project conferences Project deliverables Project extension Mini conference in the Netherlands The compilation of this Final report has been executed by Jadranka Cace, coordinator of ELREN project, with the participation and contribution from all core-partners, in compliance with the Cooperation Agreement. 2

3 1. Introduction 1.1 Project history The participants of the workshop on renewable energy at the LEADER+ seminar held in April 2005 in Kauhajoki, Finland have strongly expressed their need for a network among the LEADER+ companies involved in renewable energy. This has been reiterated on a workshop that has taken place as a part of the Trans-national Co-operation fair in Brussels in June The workshop has been attended by 30 Local Action Groups (LAGs ). Project office Leader Kop van Noord Holland and Texel (KvNH+T) has taken the initiative to respond to the articulated needs and in September 2005 has organized a teleconference in order to consult other parties about this project. After re-evaluating the expressed needs, KvNH+T has produced the overall project proposal. The proposal has been discussed and reviewed through s and finalised during the meeting with the core partners in Amsterdam in March Objective The main objective of this project was to facilitate the exchange of practical experience and technical know-how in the field of energy saving and renewable energy aiming to create new opportunities among LEADER+ groups throughout the EU. 1.3 Organization and planning The core partners of ELREN project are: Gal Vastese Inn (Italy), Carlow LEADER (Ireland), KvNH+T (Netherlands) and ADERCO (Spain). The Dutch partner KvNH+T coordinated the project. The project started on 2 March 2006 when the core partners have signed the Trans-national Agreement in Amsterdam. The project was planned to be completed on 30 November 2007, but it has been extended until March Figure 1: Spanish and Irish representatives signing the Trans-national Agreement 3

4 1.4 Budget The partners have estimated the project costs to The costs were financed by LEADER+, public and private funding. The costs and financing per core partner are shown in the table below. LEADER+ Co-financing project budget financing Public funding Private funding CP1 (IT) CP2 (IR) CP3 (NL) CP4 (ES) Total Activities The activities within the project were structured within four work packages, WP1 WP WP1: Databank and website The objectives of WP1 were: o To design, construct, host and maintain the project website; o To design, construct and maintain the database of the renewable energy projects in the rural areas of partner countries WP2: Training handbook and the course for the trainers The objectives of WP2 were: o To organize a training course for the trainers from different countries; o To develop the accompanying manual and other materials for the training course WP3: field trips The objective of WP3 was: o To organize field trips to the most relevant project sites in the core partner regions WP4: project conferences The objective of WP4 was to organize the opening and the closing conference. 2. Project results 2.1 Network Between March 2006 and November 2007, 58 support partners form 15 countries have joined the ELREN project. The partner countries are: Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, UK, Greece, Finland, Portugal, Check Republic, Slovak Republic, Belgium, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia and Sweden. The Spanish partner has attracted the largest number of support partners: 25. The partner from Czech 4

5 Republic, the LAG Chance of Nature, represents twelve different organizations from the region of South Bohemia. Spain Netherlands Ireland Italy United Kingdom Greece Finland Portugal Belgium Croatia Czech Republic Malta Slovak republic Slovenia Sw eden Figure 2: Number of support parties per country Communication institutions LAGS SMA's Research institutions RE foundations Ministry Figure 3: Number of support parties per activity field The support partners are active in the following fields: LAGs (21), promotion and communication of RE (23), RE Foundations (2), SMAs (6), Research institutions (5) and Ministry (1). The partners were inquired by questionnaire about their fields of interest, about issues they would be able to support other partners and about the needed support from other partners. The questionnaire showed that the partners were most interested in the following issues: o Biomass: wood and livestock residues; o Solar photovoltaic: building integrated and stand alone; o Solar thermal: individual installations, collective water heating in apartment buildings, water heating for farms and heat from asphalt for commercial buildings; o Hydro power: small scale hydro power; o Heat recovery installations for commercial buildings; o Efficient lighting for commercial buildings. 5

6 90 percent of the partners who has completed the match making questionnaire need support; only 10 percent is offering to provide some kind of support. The majority of the offered support is in the field of communication and promotion. 2.2 Other project results The results per work package are as follows: WP1: Databank and website The responsible party for WP1 was Gal Vastese Inn (Italy). The ELREN website: provides the information about: the ELREN project, project partners, news and events, RE policies, RE technologies, case studies, documents and links to RE organisations, programs, projects, databases, manufacturers and other websites related to renewable energy. The database can be searched for information by country, project type or technology. All project partners were invited to fill-in the ELREN database with the data on renewable energy projects from their countries. In this way, the exchange of know-how and experiences among different partners is facilitated. The ELREN project database contains the information regarding the following projects: o Pure plant oil (PPO) production plant in Ireland o PPO fuelling station in Ireland o Promotion campaign for large scale photovoltaic (PV) installations in Italy o Promotion campaign on energy saving and renewable energy for primary schools in the province of Chieti (Italy) o Information campaign on energy saving and renewable energy for primary and secondary schools in the province of Extremadura (Spain) o Cooperative wind farm in UK with the support by local community (UK) o Solar heat from asphalt (Netherlands) o Bio filtering of waste water in combination with growing of biomass crops (Netherlands) o Wind farms financed by local farmers (Netherlands) o Sustainable community on the island of Texel (Netherlands) o Energy saving and renewable energy information counter for farmers (Netherlands). All project cases are presented in English and are available to all project participants for downloading. In order to keep the important information regarding the legal aspects and financial incentives up to date, the web site includes the links to the national institutes in core partners countries that are responsible for these issues. All presentations from all past ELREN events are also available on the ELREN website. Up to January 2008, more than 4000 visitors have consulted the website. The core partner Gal Vastese Inn will continue maintaining the website for one more year after closing the ELREN project WP2: Course for the trainers and training handbook The responsible party for WP2 was Carlow Leader (Ireland). The training for trainers took place on 29 November 1 December The training has been focused on practical aspects of the RE development: technologies, planning, consultation, business planning and finance. The course has been developed in association with Tipperary Institute. 6

7 The training course was attended by 22 trainees from eight partner countries. The purpose of the training program was to improve the skill level of the project partners. The trainers are to disseminate the knowledge in their regions. The course materials have been worked out to the training manual which was made available for all project participants. The baseline figures in the course material regarding the energy potential, legal aspects and the financial incentives were based on the situation on the Irish energy market. Carlow Leader contracted three local firms from Italy, Spain and the Netherlands to produce reports with the figures from their respective countries. These reports make part of the course manual. Figure 4: Training course in Carlow, Ireland The contents of the ELREN Renewable Energy Training Manual is as follows: Chapter 0 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction to LEADER programme in the EU Chapter 2 Introduction to RE terminology Chapter 3 Introduction to RE Chapter 4 Solar geothermal energy Chapter 5 Solar photovoltaic energy Chapter 6 Solar thermal energy Chapter 7 Wind energy Chapter 8 Hydro energy Chapter 9 Anaerobic digestion Chapter 10 Wood energy Chapter 11 Liquid bio fuels Chapter 12 Business planning & finance Chapter 13 Participation, consultation and planning process Chapter 14 Energy policy and legislation Chapter 15 Country report Italy Chapter 16 Country report Netherlands Chapter 17 Country report Spain 7

8 The document is written in English and can be downloaded form the ELREN website: The course manual is also available on CD in three languages (English, Italian and Spanish version). The project partners can obtain the CD by sending a request to leader@nhn.nl. The project partners may translate the course manual into their native languages under condition of signing the Licence agreement. This agreement is also available on the ELREN website WP3: Field trips FT1: Netherlands The first field trip took place during the opening event on 15 and 16 May 2006 in Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands. Four local RE projects have been visited: heat form asphalt, bio-filtering and biomass crops, test field for very large wind turbines and farming and energy generation. Farming and wind energy generation, Middenmeer Bio-filtering Oostwaardhoeve, Slootdorp Heat from asphalt, t Zand Test field for very large wind turbines, Wieringerwerf Figure 5: Locations visited during the field trip in the Netherlands FT2: Ireland In Ireland, four local renewable projects have been visited: hydro power energy plant in Milford, Carlow, anaerobic digestion plant in Camphill Ballytobin, solar project site in Arts Centre, Callan and liquid bio fuels at Teagasc Oakpark. 8

9 Figure 6: Visitors at the Liquid bio-fuel site at Teagasc Oakpark FT3: Italy The Italian event was combined with the visit to International Exhibition on Sustainable Development Terrafutura 2007 which took place 18 to 20 May in Florence. For the 17 visitors from Czech Republic, a field trip was organized to the biomass plant in the Lunigiana area. The other attendees visited expositions and attended presentations at Terrafutura in the context of a Conference organised by the Italian Leader+ Network. Figure 7: National L+ Network Conference at Terrafutura 9

10 Figure 8: ELREN stand at Terrafutura Exhibition FT4: Spain The field trip in Spain was organized as a part of the closing conference on 25 and 26 October During the field trip the participants were taken to four renewable energy sites in the area: the solar photovoltaic installation in Alconchel, the biomass installation in Badajos, the cork production plant in Almendral and the hydro power plant in Alqueva (Portugal). Figure 9: Field trip to Eurocork, Almendral 10

11 2.2.4 WP4: project conferences Figure 10: Visit to Alqueva reservoir in Portugal Opening conference The opening conference took place on 15 and 16 May 2006 in Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands. The main objective of the conference was to inform the visitors about the scope and the targets of the ELREN project. Additionally a number of presentations were held to emphasize diverse possibilities to use renewable energy in different European countries. An exhibition, running parallel to the conference enabled the participants to have a closer look into some renewable energy products like wind turbines, bio-mass installations, solar photovoltaic installations and heat from asphalt installations. Also, a field trip was organized to four renewable energy sites in the region of Kop van Noord Holland. Figure 11: Opening conference The conference was attended by 107 visitors. The attendees came from the following target groups: LAGs (33%), farmers (15%), project officers (15%), consultants (13%), local authorities (10%), entrepreneurs (10%), foresters (2%) and education authorities (2%). 11

12 At the end of the conference, the participants were asked to consider the participation in the ELREN project as support partners. In order to make the discussion with their LAG easier, the Statement of Agreement for Support partners was distributed. The presentations from the opening conference are available on the project website Closing conference The closing conference took place took place on 25 and 26 October 2007 in Olivenza, Spain. The conference was organized by the Spanish core partner ADERCO (Association for the Rural Development of the County of Olivenza). The event included presentations, an exhibition and a field trip. There were 150 visitors form 7 European countries. Next to the numerous Spanish visitors, there were also attendees from the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom. Among other renewable energy and energy saving issues, the following subjects were presented and discussed: Regional industrial policy, ongoing activities and the future ambitions of the Extremadura region and of the County of Olivenza in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy The local website related to the ELREN project: The best practices for energy saving and renewable energy: technology, organisation, financing, production of equipment and education in participating countries. The training manual (printed version in Spanish) and the ELREN website. Figure 12: Closing conference The presentations from this conference can be downloaded form the ELREN website: (pages 3 and 4). 12

13 3. Project deliverables Website The ELREN website is the main communication vehicle. It informs the partners and other interested parties about the energy saving and renewable energy projects and the legal and financial incentives for renewable energy in participating countries. Course manual The manual contains practical information about renewable energy, see WP2: Course for the trainers and training handbook. A Cd rom (n 2000 copies) has been produced by the Italian Partner, containing the 3 versions of the manual in English, Italian and Spanish. They have been distributed to all the ELREN partners plus during seminars and training sessions carried out locally in Italy. The Spanish partner has arranged a printed version of the manual in Spanish, distributed in the final conference. News letters Between March 2006 and January 2008, the project coordinator Leader KvNH+T has published 8 issues of the ELREN Newsletter. The digital Newsletter was informing the parties about the state of the project, the milestones reached and about the upcoming events. In addition to the distribution among the project partners, the newsletter was disseminated to more than 800 other parties in Europe, such as LAGS and various institutions and organisations related to energy saving and renewable energy. Conference map The participants of the opening, interim and final conferences received a conference map containing the conference programme, the presentations, description of the field trip projects and brief information about the exhibitors. Posters Posters were developed for the opening conference and for the mini conference on 9 January Match-making questionnaire This questionnaire was developed and used to facilitate match making among the project partners, with the objective to stimulate the exchange of knowledge and services. License agreement License agreement was developed in order to safeguard the proprietary rights of the course manual developed by the Tipperary Institute. The partners were required to guarantee the correctness of the translation of the course manual to their native language. Evaluation reports The evaluation reports were made by the responsible parties for the opening conference, training course, the meeting in Italy (Web site related meetings, Terrafutura presentations and the exhibition, a field trip) and the closing conference. 13

14 Meeting minutes The agreements the core partners have reached during their meetings on: 2 and 3 March 2006, 30 November 2006, 18 May 2007 and 25 and 26 October 2007 were recorded in minutes of meeting. Trans-national Agreement ELREN project The agreement describes all relevant aspects of the ELREN project as well as the arrangements made by the core partners for the implemnentation of the project.. Statement of agreement for Support Partners This statement contains the agreement between each support partner and the core partner in case the support partner is a LAG. Statement of agreement for External Support Partners This statement contains the agreement between each support partner and the core partner in case the support partner is not a LAG. 4. Project extension During the closing conference, the core partners agreed the following: o The project will be extended till 15 January o o The Italian core partner will continue to maintain of the ELREN website for at least another year. Encouraged by the substantial results of ELREN and the high level of cooperation across all participating countries, the core partners (CPs) intend to initiate a follow-on project - ELREN Mini conference in the Netherlands On 9 January 2008, the Dutch core partner has organized a mini conference on renewable energy in Petten, Netherlands. The objectives of the event were: o o o To inform the participants about the significant initiatives, new technical trends and possibilities for energy and environmental savings, like, for example, Cradle-to-Cradle and energy producing houses. To inform the participants about the new financial incentives in The Netherlands that will be introduced in the first quarter of To discuss the possibilities for new projects in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy. The outcomes from this conference will be used as an input for the ELREN2 proposal. Presentations from this conference can be downloaded from the website of Leader KvNH+T: 14

15 4.2 Local initiatives in Italy The Italian core-partner has arranged for the implementation of n 8 seminars with technical schools, entrepreneurs and local public institutions to disseminate the contents of ELREN project in Chieti province, in particular the Italian version of ELREN manual. An Energy Centre is being established locally in the LAG area to undertake activities relating to the promotion of RE and start-up of pilot projects and schemes, plus ensuring sustainability of ELREN website in the medium period. An advance presentation of the objectives and structure of the Energy Centre was given during the Final Conference in Olivenza, Spain, by the Italian core-partner. 4.3 Local initiatives in Spain The Spanish core-partner has arranged for the implementation nine technical seminars, of which the target groups have been the public municipalities, the entrepreneurs and youth, and other LAGs of the region. The Spanish version of the manual has been disseminated to the main socio-economic agents within our region. 15

16 ELREN: Performance Indicators Ref. N INDICATOR Description number 1 Project partners (total) 63 2 Core-partners including lead partner (total) 4 3 LAG support partners (total) 41 4 Non LAG external support partners (total) 18 5 Field visits (total) 13 6 RE exhibitions (total) 3 7 Training course (total) 1 8 Trainees (total) 22 9 Attendants to conferences and field visits Training Manual (versions in different languages) 3 11 Website visitors (total) Registered users (total) ELREN newsletters (coordinator + individual partners) ELREN press (local newspaper clippings) 4 15 ELREN events (partner reports) 6 16 RE web news RE policies (EU and national) Country profiles (RE country status reports) 3 19 Lex database (RE EU and National legislation) Technologies (basic information) 6 21 Case studies (reference experiences): ELREN 4 22 Case studies (reference experiences): LEADER 1 23 Case studies (reference experiences): OTHERS Documents (RE miscell. documentation): ELREN Documents (RE miscell. documentation): LEADER 4 26 Documents (RE miscell. documentation): EU 7 27 Documents (RE miscell. documentation): OTHERS Links (website presentation): RE EU institutions Links (website presentation): RE OTHER institutions Links (website presentation): RE programmes 5 31 Links (website presentation): RE projects 5 32 Links (website presentation): RE database 5 Figures as on 15 January