Leveraging Project Results to Shape Policy: A Closer Look at DanuP-2-Gas Project

05-09-2023

In the ever-evolving landscape of renewable energy and sustainable practices, transnational projects can be instrumental in advancing technological frontiers but also in influencing the policies that drive these transformations. The DanuP-2-Gas project developod concept to speed up the shift from fossil fuels in ten countries in the Danube region. Moreover, it provided a visionary strategy aimed at policymakers and industry stakeholders, showing the future of the power-to-gas sector. In this interview with Astrid Heindel, Research Associate from the Landshut University of Applied Sciences, we delve into the DanuP-2-Gas project's impact, examining how its results have been utilized, their influence on policy decisions, and the challenges encountered along the way.

September 4, 2023

Team of the Landshut University of Applied Sciences.

1. How have the project results been used?

During the DanuP-2-Gas project, we developed an atlas showing the locations of biogenic residues, renewable energy plants and logistical connections. This data can be imported into the DanuP-2-Gas optimization tool, an excel tool that calculates the economic feasibility of a power-to-gas hub for a certain location based on the inserted data. The tool considers production of green hydrogen, biomethane, renewable electricity and heat from biomass as well as biochar. An additional output is a strategy for the future of the power-to-gas sector, targeted at policy makers and industry.

The atlas and the optimization tool were promoted to several municipalities, cities and SMEs in Bavaria. They make use of the data and the optimization tool to facilitate initial planning of power-to-gas hubs and to estimate the economic feasibility. As all data can be adjusted by the user, they do not have to rely on our data alone, but can also insert their own.

During the DanuP-2-Gas project, we developed an atlas showing the locations of biogenic residues, renewable energy plants and logistical connections.

2. Was the project's impact on policy making as expected?

The strategy for sector-coupling was discussed with the Government of Lower Bavaria. We elaborated the barriers the industry is facing in advancing power-to-gas technologies in Germany and in Bavaria, and provided solutions how the processes can be facilitated and the industry be supported. Since political procedures depend on many variables, we could not make a direct impact on policy making. However, we are in constant exchange with local policy authorities and hope that our analyses will contribute to the improvement of framework conditions.

3. Was there any resistance or challenges in adopting the project results by the policy makers?

There is always the difficulty of getting the attention of high level policy makers, as their time is limited and many different interest groups try to get their attention. However, the policy makers we did discuss the project with were very interested, listened to our analyses and provided insights and thoughts about our proposed solutions. So the overall goal of raising awareness of difficulties in the field of sector-coupling and power-to-gas was achieved. Additionally, the knowledge we gained during the project will be used during any policy exchange in the future, as policy interaction is part of our daily work.

4. How can future projects better support use of the results to drive positive change?

One really important takeaway from the project was: Translate everything! Especially on local level, proficiency of the English language is not always given and even if it is, the willingness to read documents and to use tools is higher when they are provided in the national language. It is also very important to create short versions of everything. As time is limited, especially for policy makers, a one to two page overview, ideally with bullet points and illustrations, is way more appealing than a deliverable of several pages.

Final conference in Budapest, Hungary.

Programme co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI)