COBEN - The Civic Energy Conference

About - Programme - Venue - Getting there - Accommodation - Registration

About the Conference

How can citizens and communities stake their claim as drivers of the energy transition? The Conference presents effective solutions and support for civic energy stakeholders and highlights the range of benefits to be gained for communities.

Together with key European policymakers and stakeholders the Conference examines the implications of the recently adopted new European energy market design and its promise of a “level playing field” between centralized and local energy systems. The European perspective will be extended by a selection of regional and national policy initiatives designed to support community energy actors. Contributions from the COBEN project Delivering Community Beneifts of Civic Energy will focus on proven approaches and measures to mainstream the civic energy process. Finally, an outlook session will preview future directions for civic energy.

top

Programme

09:00	Registration and coffee
10:00	Host’s welcome to Oldenburg NN, Weser-Ems Regional Development Agency Welcome on behalf of the COBEN project Thomas Klenke, University of Oldenburg Conference objectives and introduction to the sessions Gerard McGovern, University of Oldenburg and Elsie Haertjens, Gent
10:20	Session 1: European perspectives on civic energy Brendan Devlin, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission André van de Nadort, Mayor of Weststellingwerf, Fryslan and Member of the Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy of the European Committee of the Regions Pierre Jean Coulon, President, Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society - TEN, European Economic and Social Committee Andreas Lervik, Vice-President, North Sea Commission
12:00	Lunch
13:00	Session 2: Regional and national frameworks for civic energy NN, Ministry of European Affairs, German State of Lower Saxony (requested) Vera Pieterman, Deputy Director, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Henning Bo Madsen, Member of the Energy Council, Ringkjøbing-Skjern Municipality, West Jutland Craig Egden, Senior Policy Advisor, Marine & Energy, Scottish Government, EU Office
14:15	Coffee
14:45	Session 3: COBEN contributions to mainstreaming civic energy Facilitator Elsie Haertjens, Gent The community benefits of civic energy Alexander Lauring Knudsen, Ringkøbing-Skjern Kommune Sophie Rotter, Landkreis Osnabrück Professionalizing civic energy processes Guri Bugge, Østfold fylkeskommune Ross Jones, Energy Saving Trust, Scotland New business models for civic energy Dries Druyts, Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen Peter De Vylder, Commercial Director Flanders, Veolia Belgium Siegbert van der Velde, Gemeente Emmen
16:00	Outlook: Future directions for Civic Energy Anna Leidreiter, Director Climate and Energy, World Future Council
16:20	Closing remarks
16:30	After-conference cocktail

top

Old Parliament, Entrance Portal
(Photo: Gerard McGovern)

Venue

The Old Parliament (Alter Landtag),
Tappenbeckstraße 1,
26122 Oldenburg (in Oldenburg)
Germany

Official Homepage

top

Getting there

For those travelling by plane the nearest airport is Bremen. Luftibus operates a shuttle service to Oldenburg. Travel time: 1 hour.

Regional and intercity rail connections to Oldenburg (Oldenburg Hauptbahnhof) can be booked on the Deutsche Bahn website.

We strongly recommend travelling to the conference with public transport as parking space at the Alter Landtag is restricted. Bus 329 takes you directly to the conference venue (bus stop Tappenbeckstraße) from Oldenburg Central Station in 12 minutes. Alternative bus routes: bus 306 or 310 to Jade Hochschule, then a 5 minute walk to Alter Landtag.

top

Accommodation

Should you require overnight accommodation in Oldenburg a range of hotels and other accommodation can be found at https://www.oldenburg-tourismus.de/uebernachten. The website also offers an online booking function.

top

Registration

Participation is free of charge but subject to advance registration.
The number of participants is limited. Please register before August 30, 2019.

All submitted participants' data will be sent as an e-mail to the conference committee (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and if requested as a copy to your e-mail address. These data will not be saved on our servers.

top