CTO Assessment - European Commission

Independently from the support systems
chosen at national level, public
private partnerships are an effective
means of bundling among other financial
resources. There is also the
possibility to involve the local community
in a private-public pooling,
by offering shares with high enough
dividends, offering direct economic
benefits and give the feeling to the
community that it owns at least a part
of the RES installation. One of the
most successful cases is probably the
one of the municipality of Eeklo. Situated
in the Flemish region of Belgium,
this municipality offered the
possibility to deliver direct benefits
to the residents through selling them
shares at 250 Euro each and with 6%
dividends. The other successful example
is the one of the rural area of
Powys who sold shares from the community
wind turbine. This served not
only to generate income but also to
raise local confidence in the turbines
through participation.
On the same line we can mention community’s
participation in the
Heinerscheid Wind Farm. The interested
parties founded the Wandpark
Gemeng Hengsicht S.A. with a capital
of 3,200,000 Euro, divided into
12,800 shares at 250 Euro each. The
local council is the legal holder of
22.5% of the shares and aims to sell
20% to the local community. This
keeps the community involved with
and concerned for the success of the
wind farm.
Likewise, in Slovenia a private-public
pooling enabled to involve local
community directly into several biomass-based
district-heating systems,
largely sponsored by UNDP and GEF.
At the same time a Biomass Energy
Fund was set up to distribute project
funds to those applying through calls
for tender. On Æro, the wind turbines
and some of the district heating
projects are funded by the sale of
shares directly to the island residents.
The same philosophy reigns in the El
Hierro 100% RES project.
A supportive programme of guaranteed
quality standards and certification
showed to be a successful innovation
in two cases in particular:
ADEME developed in the framework
agreement (2000-2006) with the 26
regions of France annexed to the
State-Region contracts (CPER) a programme
of support of RE technologies
and EE measures. In order to allow
a long-term sustainable market development,
it was important to demonstrate
that the programme offered guarantees
thorough quality standards and
certification, thus enabling the partnerships
through the CPER contracts to
have the RE sectors structures, organised
and certified.
On its side, the Walloon Regional
Government of Belgium developed a
voluntary “Soltherm” agreement
(among what a “Soltherm” qualification
system for SMEs to develop
their know-how) for producers and
installers to ensure quality, as a means
to prepare supply and demand to
match and choose solar thermal for
the water systems.
Especially in the industry, implementation
of environmental measures can
be very challenging and brings many
benefits in return. This can be economically
more profitable in some
cases, and at the same time offers the
opportunity to make the company
known. A well-known case is the
Fischer factory (world leader in ski
and aeroplane components) who became
the first factory worldwide to
have been able to cover its heat and
cooling needs with a tri-generation
biomass plant. This has been enabled
by an “energy contracting” arrangement
concluded between the operator
of the biomass plant and the ski
producer.
In the building sector we find very
innovative aspects in some initiatives
such as the Paul-Löbe Haus that demonstrated
the importance of considering
the multi-functionality of PV systems.
In this sector the exemplary
experience of Kronsberg, an innovative
building area, stands out for the
concerting system developed. The concerted
approach in this case took place
among the Council, the environmental
and consumers groups, as well as
with investors, architects and housing
companies, resulting in the design
of an energetically sustainable
city with parameters comparable to
standard market costs.
Implementation of energy solutions
based on renewables started to be
turned into a factor of innovation for
competitivity in emerging sectors with
high potential such as tourism. The
Biosphere Hotels experience, redrew
hotel certification systems and quality
standards including renewables as
a compulsory requisite, combining
therefore accommodation quality with
RES. At a local level, we find the
Green Hotels experience of Madeira,
where a new tourist concept including
renewables as a fundamental aspect
of marketing and accommodation
quality is promoted. A similar
single case is the Hotel Victoria in
Freiburg, which differentiates the
RES dimension in its offer, an impor-
Achievements and lessons
31