Tilia is creating a concept for an integrated energy transition for the Heide – Rendsburg region
Tilia is now supporting the region between Heide and Rendsburg in western Schleswig-Holstein in their energy transition. Tilia is developing a comprehensive concept to promote climate-friendly structural change in the region. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
“When it comes to the comprehensive energy transition, many people primarily think of urban areas and smart cities,” says Christophe Hug, Managing Director of Tilia. “Rural regions are more likely to stand for subareas – in northern Germany primarily for wind farms. However, rural areas have enormous potential for a comprehensive structural change that includes bioeconomy, mobility, neighbourhood development and agriculture. It is precisely this development that we want to promote in Heide – while maintaining regional added value.”
Citizens and stakeholders on board
In order to shape this profound change successfully, the citizens of the region will also be on board. They are the ones who should mainly benefit from the project by means of an ecological and inexpensive energy supply. In addition to new business models, the Tilia concept therefore also includes various options for citizen participation.
With the necessary technologies, an infrastructure for climate-friendly hydrogen is right at the top of the agenda. “In order to select additional suitable technologies for centralised and decentralised energy supply, we will evaluate the approaches in terms of applicability, location and needs,” says Project manager Michael Schäfer. “Then we can derive strategies for expansion and instructions for action from the technologies identified. The region has already successfully pursued some of the focal points of the energy transition – storage, a flexible power grid or wind power. We want to strengthen and expand these areas further.”
When creating the concept, Tilia will also intensively involve local stakeholders – by means of transparent communication, exchange of experience, interviews and numerous workshops. In addition, the experts will check for every measure whether it is systemically and technically advantageous for all sectors concerned and whether it takes stakeholders and regional concerns sufficiently into account.
Five major work stages
The concept creation was divided into five work packages:
1. Regional recording of existing conditions
2. Regional needs analysis
3. Establish key objectives for a future energy supply
4. Creation of a strategy to achieve the key objectives
5. Recommendations for action to implement the strategy
The comprehensive concept will be in place in November 2021 and Tilia will hand over specific recommendations for action to the Heide Region. This also includes recommendations for the development and orientation of a model region, including requirements, sector coupling and strategies for the long-term operation of projects that are used. In addition, Tilia is developing further project approaches in order to continue to support the region on its path to climate neutrality in the future.
