ENERGY BARGE Building a Green Energy and Logistics Belt

The main objective of the project ENERGY BARGE is to exploit the potential for green energy in the form of biomass along the Danube river in a sustainable way, thereby increasing energy security and efficiency in the Danube countries, considering: 

• the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC,
• the EU2020 climate goals,
• EU Danube Region Strategy’s objective.

An outstanding feature of the ENERGY BARGE project is its cross-sectoral approach: the project brings together key actors along the entire value chain, stakeholders from the bioenergy industry, Danube ports as well as relevant public authorities and policy stakeholders. This shall support transnational know-how transfer and cooperation.

ENERGY BARGE will build a platform for the exchange of experiences and best practices, extending the deployment of biomass for energy production in the Danube region.

Partners

There are 15 partners involved in the project from 7 countries:

• 7 partners from the biomass/bioenergy sector,
• 6 partners from the logistics sector including 5 ports,
• 3 partners from the field of research that provide either special knowledge needed for the implementation of the project or who have special knowledge and networks in their regions.

Focus on results

An increased use of Danube logistics will help to reduce emissions, to establish a low-carbon transport system and to improve the environment performance along the entire bioenergy value chains.

The project’s promotion of ports as locations for processing, handling and storage of biomass for energy production supports port development. To map value chains and facilitate market uptake of biomass for energy production in the Danube corridor the project will put great emphasis on disseminating the results of the project specifics and findings through newsletters, articles, news and interactive social media activities.

The project in particular contributes to the implementation of the action plans elaborated in Priority Area (PA) 2 “Energy” and PA 1a “Inland Waterways” of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR).