Large grant of €400,000 for research into the regional energy transition in Zeeland

What do Zeeland municipalities, energy cooperatives and farmers think about the switch to renewable energy, and how do they participate in renewable energy projects? That is the subject of Zeekraal, an NWO-funded project that was just awarded to prof. Gert Jan Kramer (Copernicus Institute, Sustainable Energy Supply Systems) and dr Herman Lelieveldt (University College Roosevelt, political science).

The Climate Agreement stipulates that a large part of renewable energy will be generated decentralized and must be in the  hands of citizens, farmers and businesses. Lelieveldt:  "In this study we investigate how these actors are participating in this process and which values guide their decisions. For example, it is not yet well known why farmers decide whether or not to generate their own energy and it is interesting to consider how this can be combined with the transition to circular agriculture." To this end,  the ‘Zeekraal’ project will amongst others map out the motives and experiences of farmers in Zeeland - a region with 120,000 hectares of agricultural land and nearly 3,000 farms.

Funding for this research comes from the MARET program – societal aspects of the regional energy transition - a collaboration between NWO, five provinces and the national platform regional energy strategies, The results of the research will be used in workshops and toolkits to strengthen the participation of municipalities, cooperations and farmers in the regional energy transition. To this end the project consortium includes relevant stakeholders such as the Province of Zeeland, the regional energy cooperative Zeeuwind, the Southern Horticultural association (ZLTO) and the Saman Groep, one of the largest renewable energy system suppliers in Zeeland.