Case Study: Gimbweiler Germany

Organisation type: Municipality

Web address: http://www.gimbweiler.de/index.html

Contact: Martin Samson

Community size: 420

Sustainability focus:

Solar (thermal and PV), wind, district heating, biomass, electric community vehicle and broadband to facilitate working from home

Funding and Financing sources

Land leasing fees from solar and wind installations. Government subsidies and loans (paid back over 30 years from profits from district heating and broadband subscriptions).

Current priorities:

• Climate Change

• Energy Generation

• Energy Efficiency

• Transport

• Social Enterprise

• Building Retrofit

Stated aim of community:

The community aims to become a Bio-energy village.

Additional information:

The village of Gimbweiler is located in the western Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. It is not a wealthy region and has seen much migration of its younger population migrate to larger towns and cities. The mayor of Gimbweiler realised that in order to safeguard a vibrant community the village would have to be attractive to families and professionals. The migration to larger towns and cities has resulted in many villages being left with very few young families. The demographics in Gimbweiler, however is becoming much more favourable and the community is not facing problems such as empty homes like other villages in the surrounding areas.

The residents have been open and welcoming to the ideas and actions proposed by the mayor and his working group, which was formed in September 2016. This is due to the open and well prepared way that information was conveyed to the residents. As a result, for instance, there has been no opposition to energy generation from wind or solar installations. Projects planned for the village include a district heating (DH) system powered by 25% solar thermal energy and 75% biomass from locally sourced woodchip. The cost of the DH system and broadband network is €6 million: government subsidies amount to €4.2 million, with private investors making up the remainder. Of the total funds raised €1 million was raised locally via a low cost loan: the profits from the DH system and the broadband network are being used to service this loan with a payback time of 30 years. The immediate benefit to the community is that they will have lower energy and broadband expenses and that money now stays in the community, no longer going on imported fossil fuel. Another advantage to connecting to the DH system is that there is no longer a need to have individual boilers and associated maintenance costs.

The DH has encountered organisational, financial and structural problems which are being addressed. The more people who sign up for DH, the more financially viable the project will be. To encourage take-up of DH, free broadband (basic subscription) is being offered. The broadband fibre optic cables are being installed with the DH network which lowers costs and speeds up installation. The energy to run the water pumps is supplied by PV supplying 70kW peak. Having a high speed broadband connection will facilitate people who want to work from home and will encourage people to stay in the community.  Two energy projects, wind and solar, are funded by an external company. The community lease land to the company (€5,000/ year for the solar installation and €50,000/year for the wind turbines), this income is diverted back to the local budget for community projects. The newly developed Town Hall, a low energy building which employs a heat pump is one such project which has benefitted. However, government subsidies and local labour were also needed to complete the project.

As a rural community, transport is a big issue, especially with an ageing population. In response to this, an electric car has been purchased which is run on locally generated solar energy for the benefit of the entire community with a group of 8/9 volunteers providing transport services for residents at no cost.

 

The proactive outlook of the mayor and his ambition to make Gimbweiler an attractive place to live has resulted in extensive talks with companies to provide services to the village. Future plans include;

• upgrading the street lights to LED, this will result in additional energy savings for the village, in addition all residents will have LED lighting installed in their homes

• assisted living for elderly residents in a new building connected to the DH system so that they can continue living in the village and contributing to the local economy

• installation of solar thermal panels in the sports club which will provide additional energy cost savings by providing hot water for the shower facilities; lighting in the sports club is also LED

• purchase of sports equipment to encourage families to remain in the area by providing facilities paid for from saving made through consumption of locally generated energy

The community budget is currently €380,000 with an additional €44,000 provided through profits from renewable energy projects currently operating. In terms of energy provision, the mayor said that they have identified everything that can be addressed at this point in time, however they are always looking to the future.

The success of energy projects in Gimbweiler has not gone unnoticed and neighbouring villages and towns have indicated a desire to emulate their success.