Collective intelligence for the transition in coal-intensive areas
The European goal for a transition to a more sustainable energy system requires networking, collaboration and focus on a common vision. The EU-funded TRACER project brought together several coal-intensive regions around Europe to design, or redesign, their R&I strategies. The project included nine European regions, six of which were in EU Members States (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Poland, Romania), and three in countries outside the EU (Serbia, Ukraine, United Kingdom). In addition to assisting the regional actors in developing R&I strategies for smart specialisation, TRACER focused on facilitating the identification and exchange of best practices – including industrial roadmaps from coal towards new technologies and transition strategies for coal-based combined heat and power production to low carbon electricity and district heating generation. TRACER also investigated relevant social challenges in the target regions, including necessary reskilling needs of the workforce, while it provided guidance to regional actors for access to available European funds and programmes and on how to leverage additional national public and private co-financing.
Networking paves the way for the green energy transition
The policymakers in the target regions went through an entrepreneurial discovery process. “Due to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, the techniques for carrying out the stakeholder engagement process had to change,” notes project coordinator Rita Mergner. “However, there were enough opportunities to bring stakeholders together to discuss their views on the vision and priorities for the region.” This process is already underway in all the regions, and many stakeholders have already been engaged. In addition, the work on best practices related to the transition to a more sustainable energy system could be used in discussions with stakeholders in the partner regions and more widely.
Tracing a diverse landscape for innovative energy solutions
TRACER explored a range of potentials offered by large-scale post mining sites, including the development of wind energy (United Kingdom Wales), photovoltaics (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany Lusatia, Greece-West Macedonia, Poland, Serbia) and concentrated solar power (Greece). These sites also offer opportunities to test innovative land use systems, such as agroforestry or short-rotation coppices for advanced material use and biofuel production (Czech Republic, Greece, Lusatia, Poland, Serbia). Other areas of potential include geothermal energy (Czech Republic), district heating using biomass and/or heat pumps (Czech Republic, Jiu Valley-West Romania, Wales), and innovative approaches to tourism on former industrial sites (United Kingdom Wales) and urban reconversion/regeneration (Jiu Valley West Romania). Project partners themselves have gained knowledge on the preparation and implementation of the smart specialisation approach. The study tours held in Finsterwalde (Germany), Wales (United Kingdom) and Jiu Valley (Romania) provided great learning opportunities for stakeholders. In Wales, the best practice experience was shared from the EU-funded FLEXIS and SPECIFIC projects. Cooperation was ongoing with other EU-funded projects such as ENTRANCES, DE-Carb and the Initiative for coal regions in transition platform.
A supportive mechanism for energy policies in progress
The strategies and roadmaps that were developed based on the discussions held within the context of TRACER should, in the long term, contribute to stimulating investment in the low-carbon energy sector. “In the next step, project partners will build up on the TRACER results and continue their work on just energy transition. New cooperation projects are in progress,” concludes Mergner.
Keywords
TRACER, energy transition, coal-intensive regions, sustainable energy, R&I strategies, networking, best practices, green energy
