Project description:

• Funded by: Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK)
• Duration: April 2023- March 2026
• Cooperation partner: Research and Transfer Center Sustainability Neuburg (ForTraNN) of the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences
• Staff Members involved: Dr. Andrea Vetter, Astrid Preis, Dr. Janina Messerschmidt, Prof. Dr. Melanie Jaeger-Erben

The upcoming energy transition and the accompanying expansion of renewable energies from photovoltaics and wind bring with them socio-political challenges that can be met with fair and transparent approaches to citizen participation. Against this backdrop, the transdisciplinary BigTrans project is dedicated to new cooperation and decision-making channels between municipalities, project developers and local stakeholders in relation to the planning, approval, participation and implementation of large-scale renewable energy projects. Based on the assumption that participatively developed and regionally integrated renewable energy annexes represent opportunities for far-reaching regional transformation processes, the research project aims to develop and explore innovative approaches for transdisciplinary project development. The joint end product of the team of researchers from THI and BTU is a transformation toolkit for transdisciplinary project development of regionally integrated large-scale renewable energy plants that can be used by all relevant stakeholders in different contexts.