Meanwhile, Güssing has won also international recognition as an energy and biomass center. There is consensus to further develop the successful model in the future. The next aim will consist in extending the model and to cover the whole district of Güssing by 2010.
Within the “Energy Systems of Tomorrow”, project participants are developing a concept, which, after implementation will ensure energy supply for the entire district, which relies on renewable energy sources exclusively. This requires to ascertain the energy demand in the region and to identify demand distribution as well as the individual demand sectors. An important factor in self-sufficient energy supply refers to the availability of the necessary land area for energy crops. Thus, the first part of the project aimed to ascertain, at the level of municipalities, whether the available land area is sufficient to cover energy demand. This provided for a quite accurate assessment of focal points of demand and an evaluation of potential sites. The sum of the land area balances at the level of individual municipalities will result in a land area balance for the whole region.
In a next step, researchers analyzed the energy demand in the region and ascertained the capacity of renewable energy sources actually used today. The analysis of the energy saving potential and existing resources has also been conducted at the level of municipalities or parts of villages. These findings served to identify suitable technologies and to develop energy supply scenarios for the district; researchers also calculated the potential for CO2 reduction. In order to ensure an efficient supply with biomass, a special logistics concept has been developed, in analogy to the one for the town of Güssing.
Research work done so far has shown that, in principle, self-sufficient energy supply [>>INFO] for a region the size of the district of Güssing is actually feasible.
At present, the overall energy demand of the district amounts to 564,777 MWh (2005); the plants existing today already cover as much as 34 % (power), 49 % (heat), and 47 % (fuels), respectively of the demand with renewable energy sources. Project participants modeled five different scenarios that permit 100 % of the demand to be covered with energy from renewables only.
A look at potential resources and suitable conversion technologies shows that full use of the forestland would offer the largest land reserves. Depending on the scenario, the remaining land reserves would range between 13,000 ha and 14,000 ha; this means that, even with self-sufficient energy supply implemented, some 30 % of the district’s surface area remain as reserve for additional demand in the future. A complete shift to renewable energy sources would reduce CO2 emissions in the region by some 85 %, i.e. to 15,530 tons per year.
These findings were used in the follow-up project to identify potential sites and possible approaches toward implementation, to perform cost / benefit analyses, and to develop financing models. Implementation of the concept is expected to afford numerous synergies – as was the case in the town of Güssing – that can have a positive effect on the development of the region. Shifting energy supply from fossil to renewable energy sources could create added value on the order of Euro 39 million. Other objectives include an improvement of the situation on the job market, new opportunities of training and further education, and enhanced self-confidence of people in the region. New opportunities could arise in the fields of tourism, cultural activities and sports. These sustainable stimuli could create a model region and a role model for other areas, which might adopt such concepts as well.
According to calculations done in 2005 the energy saving potential amounts to 71,400 MWh, which corresponds to 12.6% of the overall energy demand in the district of Güssing. Thermal insulation measures alone hold a potential for energy saving equal to 32,705 MWh.
Energy production currently uses 27 % of the forestland and 0.2 % of agricultural land in the region. This means that some 104, 914 ha forest and 20,718 ha agricultural land are still available for the production of energy carriers. It is planned to produce at least 64,828 MWh electric power, 67,625 MWh fuels, and 104,914 MWh heat from this land area.
