Innovative societies Water-smart societies Climate-neutral societiesÂ
Interreg makes
a difference!
Explore how people in the Baltic Sea region have been benefitting
from our projects.
#MadeWithInterreg solutions for
Renewable energy
From practical tools and training to engaging people into action: Interreg projects showcase how efficiency in working beyond borders leads to efficiency in energy use.Â
What are we doing?
To modern societies, there is no other way than investing into renewable and alternative energy sources, which are sustainable, abundant, cleaner and provide a higher energy security at the same time. However, the energy transition is not easy. To cope with an urgent need to share knowledge, develop and test new methods, technologies and cooperation concepts, Interreg projects come into play. They enable to tackle the challenge of energy transition and reaching strict climate goals in the most comprehensive way possible: by pooling from expertise of people of various professions, rolling out best practices across regions and uniting people in the joint cause.
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Examples of #MadeWithInterreg solutions:
- business models for small-scale forest bioenergy plants
- enhanced use of biomass for energy
- a coordinated Baltic Sea offshore electricity grid
- improved planning for the setup of windfarms, solar parks and biogas plants
- renewable community energy projects
- a framework to exchange their national plans for developing energy corridors and shipping routes
What we’ve achieved so far
The Baltic Sea region has made significant investments to become more energy-independent and self-sufficient. At the beginning of the 2000s, Interreg projects helped analyse local biomass resources and identify suitable sites for energy plants and wind farms. Regional councils and spatial planners worked with farmers, forest operators, investors, and companies to develop bioenergy businesses. From 2009 to 2014, regions developed strategic plans for using locally available biomass for renewable energy production.
From 2016 to 2021, projects helped spatial and regional energy planners develop new criteria for planning and approving renewable energy systems, including wind farms, biogas plants, solar parks, and energy storage. Regions improved their renewable energy strategies and engaged residents through cooperative partnerships focused on different energy sources: wind, heat, solar, and biomass. At the pan-Baltic level, projects enhanced joint planning among countries and developed a plan for a coordinated offshore electricity grid to connect wind parks from different countries at sea. National authorities learned to better coordinate the future development of energy corridors in the Baltic Sea, with industry, research organisations, associations, and planners.
Ongoing projects
The ongoing projects focus on enhancing energy security in the region by ensuring uninterrupted energy supply and enhanced access to renewable sources of energy. These include solar energy, biogas, hydrogen, along with setting up or improving the infrastructure for its use. This goes hand in hand with assisting cities and regions better meet climate goals, and a handful of software or decision-making tools for more climate-friendly municipal energy and climate planning. In parallel, projects build acceptance among communities by engaging them actively into energy transition processes.
Supporting the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region
Our projects actively test solutions for renewable energy production and use, contributing to the goals of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) to enhance regional energy connectivity. In collaboration with the coordinators of the EUSBSR policy areas Energy, Spatial Planning, and Transport, our projects assist cities and regions in accelerating the production of renewable energy. By leveraging locally available resources and promoting advanced renewable energy use, our projects and the EUSBSR coordinators help create a resilient and eco-friendly Baltic Sea region.
Explore project solutions in more detail:
Results stay with the people: listen to our #InterregVoices:
©Sara Seing
Joining this particular project made me rejoice as it provided us with the opportunity to address the issues we had long desired to work on and cooperate with others who share our vision. (...) The Sustainable Public Meal Toolkit offered by the project is incredibly useful for our organization’s work.
Sara Seing
Södertälje Municipality, Sweden
STRATKIT+ project
©Ilga Gruševa
In Latvia, we are especially proud of those partners who took the lead partner role in Interreg projects. Here I can name for example the project InnoFruit, which created a sustainable network of fruit-growing companies to make them more competitive in the Baltic Sea region market.
Ilga Gruševa
Monitoring Committee member, Latvia
©IB.SH
Local food producers need innovative and practical solutions for culinary tourism to meet the specific needs and expectations of visitors in the post-pandemic era. The capacity of small producers to get enough visibility and attention in tourism market is usually very limited. Thus, they also need a solution for efficient marketing of joint tourism products.
Anna Kaiponen
Rural Tourism Association Lomalaidun, Finland
BASCIL project
