How Policymakers Can Foster Energy Cooperation in Industrial Parks: S-PARCS Briefs on Overcoming Barriers
S-PARCS forms a coalition pointing policy makers to the most obstructive barriers and how best to overcome them from an industrial perspective.
The policy briefs are available here: https://www.sparcs-h2020.eu/results/publications/
The barriers to energy cooperation in industrial parks
Economic and technical barriers are often seen as the most crucial ones in connection with Industrial Symbiosis and energy cooperation. Framework barriers are also significant, depending strongly on the proposed measure and local setting. Unfavorable legal and/or regulatory provisions have been identified by S-PARCS on all governance levels.
However, during the S-PARCS project (in accordance with the observation from other projects and within the scientific community) the importance of social, organizational and informational barriers was observed. Such barriers also occur inside single companies, but they are more significant for cooperative projects.
In comparison to internal measures, which are more or less decided centrally, cooperation leads to additional efforts, i.e. gaining trustful relationships, exchanging information and data, complex negotiations and the set-up of acceptable contractual agreements. Additionally to common support actions and reduction of framework issues, the guided development process of energy cooperation is therefore of utmost importance. Companies should be offered consultancy on industrial energy cooperation in terms of technical, economic, legal and organizational aspects.
S-PARCS solutions
Early in the S-PARCS project, a report listing various energy cooperation/services solutions qualified for mutualised procurement and utilisation was developed. This assessment served as a reference for the successive stages of S-PARCS project in order to identify the most suitable solutions to be deeply investigated with regards to their boundary conditions, barriers and effectiveness.
In this framework the most interesting opportunities have been analyzed and feasibility studies have been performed. In addition to the evaluation of the techno-economic performances of certain solutions, barriers on the framework level have been identified. With respect to them, a fruitful conversation has been set up, resulting in policy briefs focused on different national situations and technological options.
Unfavorable legal and/or regulatory provisions have been identified, and S-PARCS is drafting amendments to existing regional/national/EU policies and legal frameworks to simplify energy cooperation/services at all governance levels. The policy briefs are available here: https://www.sparcs-h2020.eu/results/publications/
Coordinated by the Energieinstitut at the Johannes Kepler University Linz (AT), the S-PARCS project envisions and tests new models of sustainable energy cooperation and services in industrial parks to reduce energy costs and energy consumption while increasing renewable on-site energy production.
The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no 785134.
