Building a Green Energy and Logistics Belt

Closed

The Danube region offers a great potential for green energy in the form of biomass. The main objective of ENERGY BARGE is to exploit this potential in a sustainable way, considering the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC, thereby increasing energy security and efficiency in the Danube countries. The project will bring together key actors along the entire value chain, biomass companies and Danube ports as well as relevant public authorities and policy stakeholders. A unique feature of the ENERGY BARGE project is its cross-sectoral approach: whenever possible at least one partner from the bioenergy industry and one from the Danube logistics sector are included per country. The project will map value chains and facilitate the market uptake of biomass, support better connected transport systems for green logistics and provide practical solutions and policy guidelines. A stepwise development of the ENERGY BARGE strategy in collaboration of national/regional policy makers with local stakeholders, involving residents is foreseen in the project, in order to support transition from the national to transnational level and to transfer know-how from technically and scientifically well-developed areas to less structured regions. As main outputs the project will deliver a transnational learning tools and events on biomass availability and value chains (biomass and bioenergy atlas and a best practice value chain integration IST tool), business workshops, an innovative information platform on biomass logistics along the Danube as well as pre-feasibility studies, pilot actions and pilot investments in inland ports. Transnational policy recommendations on how to improve energy security will ensure the sustainability of project results. The project in particular contributes to the implementation of the action plans elaborated in Priority Area (PA) 2 “Energy” and PA 1a “Inland Waterways” of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR).

Medium