"Sustainable Bioenergy Use in Central Europe”

The promotion of sustainable use of biomass in Central Europe by strengthening knowledge transfer between business and research, and establishing innovative IT-tools for networking is the aim of the COACH BioEnergy project ending in 2011. The transnational project network thus met to discuss various options of using bioenergy in Central Europe in a sustainable way and presented the findings of the three-year-project on December 1, 2011 at Fraunhofer Forum in Berlin, Germany. At the Central Conference, several international experts from the European Commission, German federal ministries, and leading research and development institutions addressed various aspects of the theme and thus created a unique forum for transnational exchange and cooperation. The conference could claim the attention of more than 60 participants.

The conference’s programme was split into individual presentations and the presentation of several COACH BioEnergy case studies from partaking countries. Before the speakers began to present their findings, Prof. Dr. Thorsten Posselt, head of the Fraunhofer Centre for Central and Eastern Europe, opened the conference and welcomed the more than 60 participants. Dr. Ulrich Eimer, Communication Manager of the COACH BioEnergy project, moderated through the conference.

The first presentation was given by Maud Skäringer, member of the Directorate General for Regional Policy of the European Commission. Mrs. Skäringer introduced the cohesion policy support for energy efficiency and renewable energies in the context of the EU 20-20-20 goals. She moreover gave an outlook on the EU Commission proposals for the upcoming period of 2014-2020 and finished her presentation with several strategic considerations regarding the Sustainable Energy Action Plans and the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan.

The subsequent presentation was given by Helmut Lamp who is the chairman of the German Bioenergy Association (BBE). Mr. Lamp addressed the questions of the current state of bioenergy legislation and utilization in Germany and furthermore gave an outlook on the future challenges and prospects of bioenergy use. His closing statements included the analysis of potential markets in the sector of biomass.

Before the lunch break presenters from four Central European countries, including Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary talked about the challenges for future RES policy in their respective countries. Christiane Hennig from the German Biomass Research Center introduced the situation in Germany, followed by Magdalena Rogulska from the Automotive Industry Insitute PIMOT in Poland. Jan Kolonicny from Technical University in Ostrava presented the sight of the Czech Republic, succeeded by Ada Amon from ENERGIAKLUB - Climate Policy Institute and Applied Communications in Hungary.

After the lunch break Dr. Bettina von Stamm, founding member of the Innovation Leadership Forum, held her presentation on the possibilities of collaboration and knowledge transfer in transnational networks like that of COACH BioEnergy. Mrs. von Stamm commented on the difficulties and chances of transnational projects and the opportunities those kinds of projects offer for innovation production.

The succeeding presentation was given by COACH BioEnergy project coordinator Annamaria Riemer from the Fraunhofer Centre for Central and Eastern Europe. Within her presentation Mrs. Riemer traced back the aims and goals of the COACH BioEnergy project and addressed the question on how consultancy support through knowledge transfer between CE-countries in the field of bioenergy use could be realized.

The following four presentations were dedicated to the results of the COACH BioEnergy project within four pilot regions. The first presenter was Izolda Mátyás from the Institute of Environmental and Landscape Management of the Szent István University in Gödöllö, Hungary. During her presentation Mrs. Mátyás also outlined the methodology of the regional energy strategies within the COACH BioEnergy project. After this Joachim Hacker from the European Centre for Renewable Energy in Güssing talked about the results of the project in the pilot region in Austria. Following Austria the participants’s attention was drawn to Germany. Sebastian Kilburg from the Central Agricultural Raw Materials Marketing- and Development-Network in Straubing talked about the regional energy strategy in the German pilot region. Concluding, Ryszard Kamiński from the Kujawsko-Pomorski Agricultural Extension Centre in Minikowo, Poland presented the results for the respective Polish region.

After the closing address of Prof. Dr. Thorsten Posselt, the participants met for a ‘get together’ in which everyone discussed the findings of the COACH BioEnergy project and the aspects of energetic biomass use of the different countries.

Conference Programme