Rurener

At the launch conference of a strategic new EU project in Kiel, Germany, on 28^th April, 14 project partners debated how they and other regions can play their part in global climate action and a securer energy supply. “RENREN”, the Renewable ENergy REgions Network, is investigating how regional governments can help accelerate a shift towards renewable energy and so support EU aspirations for a greener, cleaner energy future.

German Land Schleswig-Holstein is leading the network’s activities, which are supported by the EU INTERREG IVC programme. Between 2010 and 2012, the total budget is €2.16 million with a €1.65 million EU contribution.  RENREN project manager Wolfgang Schulz said, “We expect to learn a lot from each other over the next 3 years. The aim is to identify policy choices to improve regional frameworks for renewable energy expansion. We’ll explore the enabling conditions for renewables that regions can influence, and how these can be fine-tuned to support different technologies, such as wind, biomass or solar.”

The outputs of workshops, field trips and studies will be made available to a wider audience of stakeholders through a series of events and a website www.renren-project.eu. The network will draw up policy guidelines so that the findings can be easily transferred into regional policy-making across Europe.

Regions represented in the project are: Schleswig Holstein in Germany; Wales, Jamtland in Sweden; Westfjords in Iceland; Cyprus; Navarre in Spain; Castilla y Leon in Spain; Pays de la Loire in France; Timis in Romania; Lodz in Poland; Usti in the Czech Republic; Central Macedonia in Greece; Andalusia in Spain; and North Hungary, Hungary.