European Campaign for the Development and Documentation of 1000 Small-Scale Cogeneration

Project Factsheet Created: February 2006Updated December 2007

European Campaign for the Development and Documentation of 1000 Small-scale Cogeneration Projects in European Cities and Towns (COGEN CHALLENGE)

Programme area: SAVE, Think globally, act locally Status: OngoingCompleted

Coordinator: Stefan Craenen COGEN Europe, Belgium E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +32 (2) 772 82 90 Partners: ICEDD, Belgium FAEN, Spain Climate Alliance, Germany Grazer Energie Agentur, Austria Energiereferat Frankfurt, Germany Jozef Stefan Institut e, Slovenia Energie-Cités, France Rhonalpénergie-Environnement, France Website: www.cogen-challenge.org

Objective: Enabling potential users of small-scale cogeneration in Europe to realise their project Benefits: Fossil fuel savings, cost savings, job creation, news markets for advanced technologies

Keywords: campaign, cogeneration, energy efficiency

Duration: 01/01/2005 - 31/12/2007 Budget: € 780,726 (EU contribution: 50%) Contract number: EIE/04/138/S07.38653

Short description COGEN CHALLENGE is was an 18-month information campaign on the benefits of small-scale cogeneration in European cities and regions. The campaign starteds in February 2006 and it concentrateds on the regions of Steiermark (Austria), Wallonie (Belgium), Rhône-Alpes (France), Hessen (Germany), Asturias (Spain), and on Slovenia. Small-scale cogeneration is defined as installations with a maximum capacity of 1,000 kWe. It is typically used in houses and apartment buildings, hospitals, universities, office buildings, airports, swimming pools, leisure centres, hotels, greenhouses, and many industries. The project addresses addressed economic, technical, and administrative barriers, and the widespread lack of information, which prevent the wider use of this promising energy efficiency technology in Europe. The launch of the campaign coincideds with the coming into force of the European Cogeneration Directive in early February 2006. This Directive creates a framework for the promotion of high efficiency cogeneration in Europe and represents the first European directive especially dedicated to this technique. Expected and/or achieved results Achieved results The project has delivered the following tangible results:  All envisaged project deliverables have been achieved and have been uploaded to the project website

 A successful organisation and delivery of the European information campaign with outreach to many local and regional actors across Europe  The main campaign goal, being the documentation of 1,000 documented small-scale and micro-cogeneration projects across Europe, has been achieved  Five new regional information and support facilities/facilitators for small-scale cogeneration have been set up in five different European countries  28 National and European seminars and conferences on small-scale cogeneration  6 Small-scale cogeneration working groups in five countries.  A “small-scale cogeneration toolkit-CD-ROM” has been developed by the project team and made available on the project website: http://www.cogen.org/cogen-challenge/support/toolbox.htm  An up-to-date website has been developed (http://www.cogen-challenge.org/) to support networking and undertake dissemination.  Work Package 6 contains an analysis of key success factors, barriers and lessons learnt  Work Package 6 also gives recommendations for administrative planning and permitting procedures  Work Package 6 finally provides recommendations concerning implementation of existing European Directives  establish six regional small-scale cogeneration facilitators, “train the trainers”, and organise a series of workshops, seminars and media events.  create and spread fact sheets, brochures, best practices, contact lists and calculation tools  build up a database of 1,000 small-scale cogeneration projects in Europe on the project website to demonstrate that small-scale cogeneration is feasible, reliable and adaptable to the needs of many users  facilitate the development of at least 50 completely new small-scale cogeneration projects during the project’s lifetime. In addition other aims have been reached, such as  Higher awareness and enhanced small-scale cogeneration project development capacity in cities and towns across Europe  Informal networks of stakeholders in the participating countries  Experience within the project consortium has been build up and exchanged and best practice experiences have been exchanged  The campaign has indirectly contributed to the transition of Europe's energy system towards high-efficiency and low-carbon distributed electricity generation by facilitating the development of a significant number of small-scale and micro cogeneration projects  Input has resulted to increased local and regional capacities for the successful development of small-scale cogeneration projects and the transfer of best practice and know-how  Improvement the market for energy services, equipment manufacturers, project developers and new related technologies focusing on small-scale cogeneration;  Positive contributions to accelerate the market penetration of existing and early stage micro and small-scale cogeneration technologies Main conclusions In evaluating the campaign the project consortium has drawn the following conclusions and recommendations 1. Cogeneration technology works, small-scale cogeneration can be found all over Europe and the Showcase proves this (more than 1,000 units) 2. There are big differences in Europe between governmental approaches and support schemes 3. Still too complex for people (investment and maintenance costs) and many barriers still exist (administrative burden, connection issues)

Main recommendations On the basis of the conclusions the project consortium has come up with the following recommendations: 1. There is huge potential for small-scale cogeneration. The 27 EU Member States should be more active in exploring this and provide better support 2. There is a huge need for further promotion of cogeneration (visibility) with a special focus on biomass (solid, liquid and gaseous) 3. European approach (e.g. in connection standards and rules) would greatly benefit the growth of small-scale cogeneration

Lessons learnt Although the project has not been completed it is possible to draw the following preliminary conclusions:  The importance of raising awareness on cogeneration is equalled by the difficulties this challenge implies.  Information campaigns work only if tailored to the local level.  European-wide information campaigns need to have a strong focus on best practice exchange and on the “training of the trainers”.