210
H. Kanning et al.
only on the experience gained from the BMBF-funded project “The re-productive
town”, but also on insights from three workshops held with EAA members and other
interested participants (business representatives, especially from the utilities sector;
representatives from local government and politics and from science) in 2017. The
article concludes with a critical analysis and an outlook for future developments
(Sect. 11.4).
11.2 Real-World Laboratories Initiated by the Practitioner
Stakeholder Energieavantgarde Anhalt e.V.
Energieavantgarde Anhalt (EAA) is an association that acts as a network of stakeholders comprising civil activists, municipalities and rural districts, companies
and other institutions in the Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg region. This network is
committed to accelerate the energy transition in the region in cooperation with
national and European partners. The approach was developed in the context of the
profound, multiple socio-economic transformation processes that pose huge challenges to towns and regions, such as the closure of businesses and the loss of livelihoods, demographic change, and the energy transition. The direct impact of these
processes is very much apparent in the Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg region: high
cost pressure relating to infrastructure, a sharp fall in property prices, the demolition
of entire neighbourhoods. A wide range of technical, economic and socio-cultural
innovations are needed to meet the challenges associated with these developments
in this region dominated by lignite mining and the chemical industry. These innovations radically change land uses, creating new decentralised, interconnected and
energy systems based on renewables, as well as new urban-rural relations. In the
process, EAA places particular emphasis on the regionalisation of energy production and energy use and on sector coupling. To achieve this, developments in the
area of prosumer models and demand-side management measures should encourage
not only resource efficiency, but also system-supporting, flexible energy consumption behaviour, and enable as many citizens as possible to participate in the regional
energy transition through regional added value and democratic processes.
Since there is no ready guidance on how to meet these challenges and since a
wide range of individual issues need to be resolved, the association calls this largescale regional experiment the “Anhalt Real-World Laboratory” (www.energieavant
garde.de). In this laboratory, partners engaged as practitioners in the region and
scientists join forces to design a variety of sub-laboratories and experimental setups.
With this in mind, the association brings together within its framework not only local
authorities, public utility companies and technology companies from the renewables
sector, but also civil society interest groups. The projects in the region initiated by
EAA are generally based on the experience and issues raised by association members
within their everyday operations and on collaboration with research institutions in
other projects. In their role as project initiators and project coordinators in the region,
H. Kanning et al.
only on the experience gained from the BMBF-funded project “The re-productive
town”, but also on insights from three workshops held with EAA members and other
interested participants (business representatives, especially from the utilities sector;
representatives from local government and politics and from science) in 2017. The
article concludes with a critical analysis and an outlook for future developments
(Sect. 11.4).
11.2 Real-World Laboratories Initiated by the Practitioner
Stakeholder Energieavantgarde Anhalt e.V.
Energieavantgarde Anhalt (EAA) is an association that acts as a network of stakeholders comprising civil activists, municipalities and rural districts, companies
and other institutions in the Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg region. This network is
committed to accelerate the energy transition in the region in cooperation with
national and European partners. The approach was developed in the context of the
profound, multiple socio-economic transformation processes that pose huge challenges to towns and regions, such as the closure of businesses and the loss of livelihoods, demographic change, and the energy transition. The direct impact of these
processes is very much apparent in the Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg region: high
cost pressure relating to infrastructure, a sharp fall in property prices, the demolition
of entire neighbourhoods. A wide range of technical, economic and socio-cultural
innovations are needed to meet the challenges associated with these developments
in this region dominated by lignite mining and the chemical industry. These innovations radically change land uses, creating new decentralised, interconnected and
energy systems based on renewables, as well as new urban-rural relations. In the
process, EAA places particular emphasis on the regionalisation of energy production and energy use and on sector coupling. To achieve this, developments in the
area of prosumer models and demand-side management measures should encourage
not only resource efficiency, but also system-supporting, flexible energy consumption behaviour, and enable as many citizens as possible to participate in the regional
energy transition through regional added value and democratic processes.
Since there is no ready guidance on how to meet these challenges and since a
wide range of individual issues need to be resolved, the association calls this largescale regional experiment the “Anhalt Real-World Laboratory” (www.energieavant
garde.de). In this laboratory, partners engaged as practitioners in the region and
scientists join forces to design a variety of sub-laboratories and experimental setups.
With this in mind, the association brings together within its framework not only local
authorities, public utility companies and technology companies from the renewables
sector, but also civil society interest groups. The projects in the region initiated by
EAA are generally based on the experience and issues raised by association members
within their everyday operations and on collaboration with research institutions in
other projects. In their role as project initiators and project coordinators in the region,