ADEC

Renewable Energies Transfer System (RETS)

The three year RETS project is funded through the INTERREG IV C programme and is a partnership of 12 organisations in nine countries. The aim of the project is to improve the knowledge and competencies of local and regional policy makers in renewable energy systems, and by doing so facilitate a greater deployment of effective renewable energy policies at local and regional levels.

FRANCE: ADEC (Project lead) in Alsace and Pezenas city in Hérault
GERMANY: IHK ZETIS GmbH in Rhenanian Palatinat
HUNGARY: Vescés Town near Budapest
ITALY: Provincia di Varese in Northern Italy
NETHERLANDS: City of Sittard-Geleen in the Limburg Province
PORTUGAL: Sertã Town Council in the Beira Interior Province and Pinhel Town Council in the Beira Interior Norte Province
ROMANIA: ICEMENERG in Bucharest
SLOVENIA: ENERGAP in Maribor
UK: IESR (Staffordshire University) in the West Midlands Region and West Wales Eco Centre in Wales

Through encouraging the set-up of sustainable development policies, the RETS project provides a way to anticipate European and international legislation, thus participating in the EU 2020 commitments: 20/20/20

Project started January 2010 in Sertã, Portugal and will finish December 2012 in Strasbourg. The main project activity will be the creation of simple usable tools for local authorities to help in making informed choices for the implementation of the right renewable energy strategy within their territories. This will be achieved through:

Collection and analysis of regional RES initiatives and production of a good practice guidebook
Study visits to exchange ideas and practices between the members of the RETS community and the European expert network connected to the project
Tailored RES seminars for local authorities to transfer knowledge, good practices and stimulate policy implementation
Creation of an online RES community bringing together local authorities and RES experts through a collaborative tool, allowing them to find, exchange, discuss and transfer information on RES.
Dissemination of the project activities and results through conferences, paper publications, newsletters, and a website, mailing lists, online collaborative tool, watch platform.

The RETS Challenge
The project aims to tackle the challenges of renewable energies for local and regional authorities (in particular those with less than 25,000 inhabitants) in association with the expertise of existing competency centres that produce research and provide services on renewable energies, and constant use of competitive intelligence tools. These small sized authorities have to combat issues linked to their territorial competitiveness and access to project management skills for the implementation of complex projects (energy-mix).

Study Visits
After these study visits, the partners will have gained greater insight into RES from the examples of these first realisations, the overall aim being to create a knowledge network (web portal and publications) in order to exchange and transfer good practices so that local and regional authorities can set up their RES strategies through the sharing of know-how from the Rhenan space to Portugal, from Wales to Romania, passing through Holland to Northern Italy.

The first study visits took place between 27th and 29th of April 2010 in the Upper Rhine region and included trips to