Other European Projects

Ace for Energy

Ace is a renewable energy initiative which has been launched across several North West European countries. It promotes the importance of renewable energy in everyday life to citizens, businesses, universities and local government, the idea is if the right information is provided there will be an increased uptake of renewable energy.

Ace is about co-operation. Utilities, energy supply companies, businesses, local government and energy users as well as other energy actors are developing their own separate strategies for renewable energy. By co-operating, all these key players can share expertise, experience and ideas. Ace will facilitate this process by creating an “Academy of Champions for Energy”, this means that energy actors or “Champions” who lead the way for sustainable energy locally, regionally and internationally come together through the academy and share information.

The Energy Champions which will form the Academy have a common goal to promote the sustainable use of energy and by coming together they form a unique and innovative Academy of Champions for Energy. The Ace initiative supports the fact that renewable energy is the building block on which our futures must be built.

Currently a lack of co-ordination and sharing of knowledge among various North West European communities had lead to limited success in the renewable energy sector within Europe. It will address this information gap by informing and educating the public on how to switch from conventional fossils fuels to renewable energy resources.

When Energy Champions come together they will make things happen through collaboration. The academy uses resources already available within our communities rather than more technical solutions. Using community resources can be very effective as technical solutions often have a high upfront cost yet still don’t address the key issues associated with increasing uptake of renewable energy. Ace enables this collaboration of the energy champions & other relevant energy actors. The result will be a more closely-linked EU network that will benefit citizens in this region.

Ace Demonstration Projects

Ace will see a number of on-the-ground renewable energy case studies being developed. The first of these is a Citizens Plaza which promotes renewable energy, this will be built in Dublin City Centre beside Dublin Castle and will feature a large interactive screen where members of the public can get information and learn about renewable energy in a non-conventional, fun way. This will also link with Kevin Street Library in Dublin City Centre, which will provide additional and more detailed information in relation to renewable energy for citizens who wish to delve deeper into learning about renewable energy.

The second demonstration will be a village which is powered entirely by renewable energy Hoenderloo, Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. Hoenderloo will be an example which inspires other communities and villages to strive towards being entirely self sufficient in terms of energy.

The final demonstration of renewable energy will be the development of a bio-mass community farm in Basse Normandie in France. This region has a high level of cattle farming and subsequently has a high level of by products such as manure. The plant aims to use such by-products to create biogas. The gas which is produced will be added to the natural gas network or transformed into heat or electricity which can be used in the region.

Key Aims of Ace

-    Ensure political and scientific stakeholders meet and form strategies for Renewable Energy in North West Europe together
-    Champions and stakeholders associated with the ACE initiative will excel by learning and mentoring each other, this will be achieved through staff exchanges, workshops etc.
-    Three demonstration sites which are exemplar and can be replicated in other European regions
-    Development of innovative business models for community based sustainable energy projects
-    Creation a marketing plan for renewable energy which will include a communications and public engagement strategy for across North West Europe
-    An Academy Award Ceremony which will recognise outstanding renewable energy champions across the participating North West European Countries.

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