Mark Summerfield - Burnley College
The trip was focused on renewables and energy generation, looking at best practice examples in the Sudthuringen (South Thuringen) region of what was formerly East Germany.
The group:
The group included delegates from a variety of backgrounds: Burnley College was represented by Jonathan Lund, Mark Summerfield, David Bridge and John Upton, Clare Chapman is the energy efficiency and renewables officer for Scottish Power, Damian Tow and Will Cottrell are the director and founder of Brighton energy Co-operative, who specialise in community projects, Owen Humphries is a Company Director for WYG who specialise in waste management and energy recovery, Mohammed Yousuf is an energy and renewables consultant, Rowan Langley is the renewables engineer for Bermondsey Buddhist Centre and Dirk Bischoff is the Embrace co-ordinator and organiser of the trip he acted as guide, interpreter and manager of the trip.
We flew out to Germany at 7.05 am on Sunday the 14th of October, necessitating a 2.30 am start. The flight was uneventful, and we landed in Frankfurt at around 10.00 a.m. We then waited at the airport for the rest of the group to arrive at around 1.00pm. then set off for Sudthringen which is in the Mittledeuschland area of Germany, a very beautiful forested and mountainous region of the former GDR, which was in all its autumn glory, the forests turning into a carpet of red green, gold and brown. Since reunification significant investment has taken place to update the infrastructure and housing stock in the region which becomes a mecca for skiing enthusiasts in the winter. The villages and towns we passed were very picturesque, with many examples of half timber houses and quaint streets. Renewable technologies were very much in evidence with large Photovoltaic (PV) arrays on factory roofs, houses and ground based systems.
On arrival at the accommodation I was somewhat dismayed to find the rooms were on the 3rd floor of the building and no lift was available. Dirk offered to find me alternative accommodation, but I decided it would be more beneficial to remain with the group.
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| Workshops | Offices | Accommodation |
I had a short sleep whilst some of the group went out exploring and had a walk into the nearby town, on their return we had a light buffet style meal then adjourned to the bar next door to take advantage of the wi-fi network, have a couple of pints of the local beer and broaden our experience of German culture.
Rowan Langley - Funky Renewables
Ten delegates, with varied relevant backgrounds. We have lecturers from a technical college, training the next generation of electricians, plumbers, roofers and some of those will become installers of renewable technology. We have two directors of a local energy co-operative venture and a a member of the renewables' team of a large water undertaking, who use the hydro potential in the rivers and reservoirs which are part of the water infrastructure to generate at a medium scale, up to 500 KW to offset the significant electrical energy consumption incurred in water abstraction purification and distribution, we have a partner from an architects firm, a director of a renewable energy installation firm and we have the same firm's electrical sub contractor.
As a group we are not short on experience. We have between us installed successful systems, run successful courses, survived long discussions with distribution network operators.
We were all struck by the number and size of rooftop solar installations as we took a walk around the town in the afternoon and on the long road journey from the airport. Solar capacity has reached the point where on one day this year half the daytime power consumption of Germany was being generated on rooftop PV systems, and from this year onwards a requirement has been added for new PV installations to incorporate switching under the distribution network operators control to allow the output of the system to be turned off to prevent excessive energy being fed into the network in times of low demand.
Claire Chapman - Scottish Water
Well here we are in the little town of Zella-Mehlis around 300 km from Frankfurt airport, where we landed at lunchtime. The town is in the state of Thuringia, which is in the old East Germany, and was heavily industrialised prior to re-unification. Subsequently, a lot of investment has been spent on transferring the skills to Renewables, which is why of course we are here.
We spent the afternoon wandering around. Our hostel is right in industrial land, so not much to look at, and I’m having to type this from McDonalds (the only internet connection around!) – some of my vegan sandal-wearing colleagues here are having to swallow their convictions for the week!
The town centre is rather lovely, and there are forested hills all around. We passed some ski hire stalls on our walk, but just one small pile of snow. Temperature is still a mild 9oC.
We start our visits tomorrow, so hopefully something to report tomorrow night.
