Introduction

Heat delivery to Jühnde began in September of 2005.  The core of the project is a biogas facility that ferments local raw materials such as rye, wheat, sunflowers, maize and liquid manure from farmers in the region and uses the resulting methane to produce electricity and heat in a small power plant.  A local heat grid carries the energy to (at the moment) 142 households.  In other words, more than 70 percent of Jühnde’s inhabitants use local bio-heat.
780 people, 10 farms, 400 cows and 1500 pigs watched by the world – that’s Jühnde.  A village that defies the electricity companies, and has two power stations of its own that generate twice as much electricity as its residents use – cheaply and biologically.  And the best thing is that the whole world profits from it.  You see, in just one year the village’s CO2 emissions have reduced by 60 per cent.

Objectives and target audience

The goals of the Federal Government are quite ambitious.  As stated in Article 1 of the EEG, Germany is aiming to increase the proportion of electricity generated from renewables to at least 12.5% by the year 2010, and to at least 20% by the year 2020.
By 2050, at least half of Germany’s primary energy consumption should come from renewables.  This will only be possible if at the same time energy is used far more efficiently.
The aim of the project is to convert biological material into electrical power and heat. A Block-Type Thermal Power Station (or Heat and Power Generator) run by bio gas is now realized.  For additional heating during winter a wood hogged heating system is implemented.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

This plant had a total cost of approximately € 5,300,000,  with 1/3  of the funds from the German Ministry BMELV and Lower Saxony it was possible to invest in such project.
Partners:-

• Bioenergiedorf Jühnde eG;
• Dipl.-Ing.Hans Erich Tannhäuser;
• HAASE Anlagenbau AG;
• IZNE Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für nachhaltige Entwicklung.

Process

Applying ESTEEM
Through personal meetings and various telephone calls, Öko-Institut offered the project manager and  active project partners concerned with the dissemination activities to test the ESTEEM tool.  The original Jühnde project directly involved all relevant stakeholders with several participative tools.  The dissemination project used a similar approach and tools, and most of the potential stakeholders were already known and “on board” by the time ESTEEM was started.  Nonetheless, critical situations regarding the involvement of important actors came up.  While the majority of these problems were externally driven, the project management started intense discussions with all relevant key actors to find specific solutions, supported by the ESTEEM process.

The central idea of the Jühnde model is a complete shift of energy sources for an entire village, away from conventional (fossil) energy sources to the renewable and CO2 neutral biomass.  One such community is the bio-energy village of Jühnde, located in the southern part of Lower Saxony, Germany.  It is the first of its kind in Germany, and aims to completely replace its fossil energy use for heating and electricity through bio-energy.

STEP ONE: Visions of the project
Jühnde was selected in a step-by-step approach from a group of some 54 villages in the county of Göttingen on the basis of 30 criteria on nature, society, infrastructure, and economy (Eigner, 2001).  The Jühnde village especially offers a local agricultural supply structure with the necessary quantity of biomass production from bio-energy crops, and forest residues.
Two local farmers were interested to change their traditional economic ‘attitude’, shifting from ‘farmer’ to ‘energy supplier’.
Moreover, several technical conditions like a minimum density of heat demand had to be met in order to establish the new district heating grid at reasonable cost.  Also, a good and functioning social network existed in Jühnde which is necessary to promote the ideas of the project, and to build on the trust between the local actors.  From the infrastructural point of view, facilities like a sports gym or a community centre were needed for public meetings.
Besides the question of implementing a new supply technology, the Jühnde model focuses on the active involvement of the village inhabitants and their specific know-how.  Primarily based on the idea of a group of social scientists from the University of Göttingen1, the aspect of participation and identification with the project’s ecological aims and technological requirements of changing the energy system as a whole is one of the central objectives.
At the beginning of the process, seven general objectives were formulated:-

• Protection of climate and resources – The use of biomass compensates CO2 emissions and, therefore, reduces the greenhouse gas effect;
• Soil and water protection – Soil and water contamination with nitrates and biocides could be reduced considerably through environmentally sound concepts for cultivating bio-energy crops (‘double-cropping’ with maize, triticale, sunflowers);
• Plant diversity – A wide diversity of plants, even weeds, can be tolerated as all those can be utilized in the fermentation process for biogas;
• Regional business cycle and economic effects – Selling plants and wood for energy can generate a new income base for local farmers, and could lead to higher employment levels;
• Participation – The involvement of the inhabitants is fundamental for a shift from conventional to renewable energies, as they have to invest money for their own connection to the grid. Encouraging villagers to participate and motivating them to help solve local problems will promote collective opinion-building;
• Decentralisation of energy supply – The energy plants will be operated by a local cooperative.  Its decisions will be compatible with local needs.  With the shift to local energy sources, a minimization of technical, environmental and economical risks comes along;
• Quality of life – The experience of common decision-making and problem-solving could generate a new self-confidence and quality of life within the community.

STEP TWO: What were the various expectations of the case?
The project ‘Bio-energy Village’ aims to shift from fossil energy sources for electricity and heat to a fully renewable base with active participation of the population.  In that sense, it is a demonstration project for an environmentally and economic sound energy supply system in a rural region Ecological and economic aspects are reasons for the usage of renewable energies.
IZNE developed the first vision of a ‘Bio-energy Village’.  The focus was the implementation of a biomass strategy linked to societal and economical welfare in rural areas.  Later on key partners like the mayor of the village, inhabitants and engineering firms joined.  A very important promoter of the main ideas was the mayor of the village of Jühnde.  He motivated the inhabitants in the name of future generations with the argument of a sustainable development.  As he is a person of high recognition and integrity, he could convince the traditional and conservative oriented villagers.  The economic and fiscal framing as well as the business model of a cooperative was mainly developed by local expertise of two tax advisors.
In the beginning of the selection process Jühnde was one of 54 potential village partners in the region.  The research team looked for a village community with motivated, qualified persons and a village environment with necessary agricultural land.  In the end, 17 villages volunteered to become the ‘Bioenergy Village’ – out of these, Jühnde and three other villages were chosen because of the very positive and engaged feedback by the actors and inhabitants.
The main ‘target group’ were the inhabitants of the village, as they had to change their heating systems, and to buy local energy (heat and electricity from biomass).  On the one hand, it was expected that the villagers make long-term decisions on the economically relevant issue of energy supply.  On the other hand, IZNE had an important influence on the information base for these decisions.

STEP THREE: Understanding ‘participatory’ decision-making: negotiating expectations
In the pre-selection process to identify the model community, several instruments of information were used in 17 villages, such as:-

• Information flyer and brochure;
• Press and media work;
• Public presentations (external experts, visualizations);
• Consulting;
• Door-to-door information;
• Visiting demonstration projects (best practice).

The use of those instruments was organized by IZNE.  The selection process was underpinned by a series of different surveys in the 17 candidate communities.
One of the main questions dealt with the willingness to change and connect to the new heat supply system.  Here, the inhabitants of Jühnde agreed to switch with a 69% share of all households.
Another issue was the question of active involvement and the identification with the general philosophy of the project. While 87% of the inhabitants of Jühnde covered the idea of the project, a share of 22% of the house owners was willing to support the implementation actively (in working groups).
A 35% share of all households wanted to invest in the cooperative.
With these numbers in view, IZNE selected Jühnde as the model village, and funding from the Federal Ministry for Agriculture was expected.

STEP FOUR: From visions to reality
Since the selection of Jühnde as a ‘Bioenergy Village’ in 2001, the project was implemented in four steps.  After a first overview of the regional potential and discussion with 54 villages, the second selection narrowed down the list of candidates to 17 villages. Out of these, a group of four villages was selected, mainly by identification of the villagers’ expectations and engagement.
In a second survey, the inhabitants of Jühnde showed the most convincing attitude regarding the prospective project.
In May 2002, the ‘Bio-energy Village’ cooperative was founded and established membership contracts with some 70% of the Jühnde inhabitants. Financial support was made available from the national and the regional level.  Even 10% of the Jühnde villagers gave money to get the planning process started.  After the positive decisions on the financial grants the investment money was ensured, and the local cooperative became operative in 2004.
The villagers who participated in the local cooperative decided collectively on the restructuring of their energy supply system.  They built up a self-managed production and distribution infrastructure.
The village implemented the bio-energy system, the district heating grid and an operating cooperative within the period of four years. Meanwhile, over 73% of the inhabitants are linked to the local heating grid.  Due to rise of fossil energy costs since 2004, the promoters of the project feel encouraged and confirmed, as the economy of the projects became even better than assumed before.
The energy production process itself works as follows: Under anaerobic conditions, micro-organisms engage in enzymatic digestion of liquid manure and silaged plant material to create biogas in a central facility.  The combustion of biogas in a combined heat and power plant (CHP) then generates enough electricity for the entire village, and the co-generated heat is mainly used to heat homes and other living space, replacing fossil fuels. A smaller portion of the generated heat is required as process energy for the digestion plant.  The amount of heat generated cannot cover the high demand during winter months in Germany, though.  During this period, an additional heating plant fuelled with regional wood chips is required.  After the technical implementation, the villagers now discuss visions and further projects to realize the social aspects of the ‘Bio-energy Village’, like an attractive local coffeehouse and meeting point as well as a supermarket for organic regional food products.
With conception support from IZNE, the local public developed experiences of implementation which could help to transfer the model to other villages in and outside of the region.  The Jühnde model has received high national as well as international attention, and local authorities of other villages want to replicate the organisational and technological approach.
Despite of some problems regarding efficient cooperation and management the ‘Jühnde’ model is a quite successful one.  At present, 12 other villages in the same regional context want to become the ‘next Bio-energy Village’.  The project and its dissemination will be continued, also with the support of IZNE as a project manager.  The funding Federal ministry now also supports a ‘lessons learnt’ study which aims to identify success factors for future replication.

Results

The initial design estimation establish a 4.000.000 kwh of electricity generation per year, but they have achieve 4.500.00 kwh.  Also they produce approximately 3.000.000 kwh of heat, which represents 67% of the annual heat demand of the Village.
Is important to mention that even though farmers use slurry as a fertilizer they have just decrease the use of fertilizer by approximately 25%. In the case of Herbicides and Insecticide use has reduced by approximately 1/3 has been establish mainly for the crops use for the biomass process since the quality requierements are not that high.
In 2008:
Energy production: 10.000.000 KWh
CO2 savings: 3.300 to annually.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Jühnde has inspired others in the region to follow its example. The responsible district authority in Göttingen has already found eight additional boroughs which might be eligible for local heating grids. A feasibility study may be made available to these villages by fall of this year. And those boroughs whose citizens join the project may be supplied with bio-heat as early as the end of 2008.