Public-private partnership
Beckerich in Luxembourg aims to become energy self-sufficient by 2025 and has undertaken a number of projects to do so.
In 2004, 19 farmers founded a biogas cooperative, treating manure to produce energy. The total investment amounted to €5m 50% funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and 50% financed by a loan. The municipality buys the heat produced and resells it to the citizens. In 2010 the municipality was able to raise €400,000 by selling heat, while each family saved around €500.
In 2008, a wood incinerator plant for heat energy was created as another alternative energy source. The wood comes from the 700 hectares of Beckerich’s forests, out of which 400 hectares belong to 260 private owners. The municipality developed an exchange system based on a 15-year contract with forest owners who benefit from a discount on their energy bill in exchange for providing wood to the incinerator. Friendly prices were set for low-income households so that every person can access the system.
What makes Beckerich’s alternative-energy solutions so popular is the fact that they meet several objectives at the same time: there is a reduction in CO2 emissions, jobs are created at the local level and money re-injected in the local economy.
In addition, the long-term vision and ambition of the authority has led to a decrease in electricity use (compared to an increase in the rest of the country) and 15% of the municipality’s households installing renewable energy or additional energy efficiency measures (Covenant of Mayors, 2012).