Energy Vision Murau
Region: Murau region, Upper Austria
Implemented on: local level (group of municipalities)
Target group: Energy stakeholders
Summary:
Murau is a small region in Austria with 35 municipalities aiming to be energy self-sufficient by 2015. The strategy ‘Energievision Murau’ was collaboratively developed in several regional working groups managed by energy consultants of the region. Actions have been implemented in the areas of private housing, public building and local economy. Starting with capacity-building and identifying important stakeholders the strategy led also to concrete investments. At all steps, the Energieagentur Obersteiermark was the main promoter of the strategy, acquiring support from particular entrepreneurs and mayors.
Objectives:
- Self-sufficient heat and electricity production from renewable energy sources within the region in 2015;
- Producing added value in the region by exporting surplus energy.
Funding/Costs:
- Management of the Energievision process and animation is supported by regional and national authorities, financing of individual projects is organised on an individual project basis, sometimes with public co-funding.
- Estimation says that around 20 Mio € will be invested in the project until 2015.
Results:
- Success in starting a process within the community with well-working theme specific working groups;
- Several successful projects: replacing oil by biomass at the region’s largest energy consumer, a fossil free municipality, a new biogas plant is just built etc;
- Renewable electricity production is at 140% of the consumption already;
- All in all the region is about 80% energy-self-sufficient (according to their definition).
Lessons learnt:
- 3 main challenges: get the sceptical people on board; keep the process running over a long period of time and tenacity;
- Trust is needed. The project management team must be impartial and independent; communication must be open and honest. How the working groups are moderated is very important: actors who are normally in competition with each other, such as tradespeople in the energy sector, have to unite around a common philosophy;
- Motivated people, who take a proactive approach to implementing ideas, are active in working groups and have their own business models;
- Abstract concepts are very difficult to sell, whereas a new energy facility or a well-executed refurbishment project demonstrates both the vision and the fact that it can be translated into reality.