Groen Gas - Sustainable Supply Chain Manager

Abstract

Although the production of sustainable energy has grown rapidly, the experience of the last 10 years has proved that the road towards sustainability is a bumpy one. If we want to reach our goals we have to have broad consensus on three basis questions: Why do we want this, What can we do to reach our goals; How can we do this. An analyses of the sustainable energy production shows that the largest part of the production is based on biomass. The fermentation of biomass into biogas in digesters is one of the methods. The development of biogas has been successful but now stagnation is looming. Despite this stagnation, new opportunities present themselves. A case in Coevorden is described as an example of developing new combinations. To facilitate new developments a software tool called the Sustainable Supply Chain Manager has been developed as a “deliverable” of the Interreg NSR IVA project Groen Gas/ Grünes Gas D-NL by the Carl von Ossietzky Universität of Oldenburg. Three cases were used to validate the tool: the case Gemeinde Dornum (D), the case Gemeinde Westerstede (D) and the case Energy-Transition-Park in Coevorden (NL). In this paper we briefly look at the developments in the field of sustainable energy production, in both Germany and the Netherlands. The case Coevorden is presented as an example of Neue Kombinationen. The SSCM tool can be used to find the best option for new developments.