Quick profile
The Heide Region Development Agency (EARH) was founded in 2013 by the Town Council of Heide and the 11 surrounding municipalities. Besides the implementation of the municipality/parish development concept, the work of the EARH focuses on promoting the regional economy. This activity includes making full use of regenerative sources of energy produced in the region. On this basis, the development agency has conceived the ENTREE100 project initiative, which pursues the objective of large-scale energy supply based 100% on renewable sources of energy. The experience in operating plant on a large scale that is required, in this respect, is supposed to be achieved by installing various “power-to-X” plants. In this way, a campus will be created, where, in addition to research and scientific exploration being conducted, real-world laboratories of the technological partners are developed. For that purpose, we are working intensively and with foresight for close cooperation between politics, industry, science and the municipalities.
Activities in the real-world laboratory
The EARH is the initiator, creative director and driving force of the ENTREE100 project initiative, as well as the WESTKÜSTE100 research project. In the real-world laboratory, the EARH is largely responsible for the administrative project co-ordination, the management of the committee of project partners responsible for the development and optimisation of the communication strategy, and also the co-ordination of the implementation and connectivity. The EARH is involved in all phases of the project, in particular from the point of view of its technical, legal and economic feasibility, as well as the integration of the local economic activities. It is therefore important to also conduct the project in collaboration with the other projects involving 100% renewables in a targeted manner.
Long-term vision
With WESTKÜSTE100 and projects such as QUARREE100 and KEROSyN100, the region should become a European centre for the implementation of an integrated turnaround in energy policy in a systemic network. Besides successfully implementing real-world laboratories and establishing a campus for business and science, we would like to sustainably secure jobs in the region, create new ones, and in the process make a major contribution towards achieving the climate protection goals in all sectors. We would like to not only accelerate energy generation and its transformation, but establish innovative applications in the region, especially in the field of hydrogen.