Territorial Science Echo: Heterogene Energielandschaften in einer Grenzregion – Raum, Gesellschaft und Energie in der Großregion/ Paysages énergétiques hétérogènes en région frontalière – espace, société et énergie dans la Grande Région.

The Territorial Science Echo concept was created in the context of the INTERREG UniGR-Center for Border Studies project in 2018. The UniGR-CBS is a cross-border network of approximately 80 researchers from the six member universities of the Greater Region University who work on borders, their significance and their associated challenges. The Territorial Science Echo is used for the cross-border transfer of innovative spatial planning knowledge which researchers of the Center for Border Studies of the Greater Region University (UniGR-CBS) possess; this pertains to politics, society and public administration, and specifically the integration of current research conclusions in the development process of a regional development concept for the Greater Region (SDT-GR).

The expertise of UniGR-CBS researchers therefore contributes to networking the regional development concept of the Greater Region (SDT-GR) through the INTERREG project. Cross-border regions are particularly adapted to the establishment of comparative approach laboratories and integrative strategies for spatial planning and development. These learning processes regarding spatial planning and development further strengthen ties between the responses of research to evolving framework conditions and the needs of society. The innovative conclusions of the UniGR-CBS researchers are therefore immediately made accessible for the practice of spatial planning and development, which strengthens cross-border governance in the field of spatial planning and consider it from a competitive viewpoint.
It is furthermore planned to make scientific discourses specifically usable for the SDT-GR. To this end, brief summary reports based on the current research conclusions of UniGR-CBS and representing five important thematic fields for the future development of the Greater Region, defined in agreement with the SDT-GR (“demography and migration”- “mobility, transport infrastructures and public transport” – “employment and economic development” – “energy” – “governance and external relations of the Greater Region”) and highlighting the challenges occurring in the Greater Region, were integrated.

These reports were drawn up by teams of authors from the six partner universities of the UniGR in all the thematic fields, with the guideline to present the results in a brief and understandable form and in a concise format (approximately 10 pages per thematic field). In November 2018, a common workshop for UniGR-CBS searchers and the scientific committee assisting in the performance of the SDT-GR, as well as for the parties involved in the Greater Region was organised. This workshop aimed to place the reflection on spatial planning in a scientific perspective. The thematic documents were published as part of the new series of UniGR-CBS working papers.

The dialogue initiated between UniGR-CBS researchers and the parties involved in the Greater Region is experimented through the SDT-GR project and should therefore be strengthened in the long run with the aim to guarantee future tasks related to spatial planning. In this context, it is planned to continue the Territorial Science Echo once INTERREG’s support ends as part of the UniGR-CBS.

Table of contents :

• Preface
• Introduction
• Wind energy in the Greater Region
• Wind energy in Germany
• The energy transition in France: nuclear and renewable energy
• The development of wind energy on both sides of the border
• Wind energy in Germany
• Wind energy in Lorraine: a restrained rise
• The use of biomass
• Biomass energy in Lorraine: great potential which has yet to be fully tapped
• Biomass in Rhineland-Palatinate
• Challenges for the Greater Region: the limits of the energy transition(s)