The Oldenburg energy cluster OLEC e.V. can look forward to renewed financial support from the state of Lower Saxony and the city of Oldenburg. For 2019 state funds of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Environment, Energy, Construction and Climate Protection could be raised. The focus is on the activities of the network for dialogue for the energy system transformation: Tailor-made formats and publications are intended to promote exchange and networking between regional stakeholders.

Previously, the City of Oldenburg had already promised further financing for the years 2019 to 2022, thus confirming the high regional added value of the network work: "I see this as recognition of the constant quality of OLEC, which has developed from an energy source network to a professional service provider and central node for all areas of energy system transformation to smart city concepts, and thus contributes to positioning the City of Oldenburg and the companies in the northwest of the city for the future," says Oldenburg's Lord Mayor Jürgen Krogmann.

The energy system of the future will become more complex - it addresses more and more actors in different areas of life and work. This calls for cross-industry and cross-thematic exchange and cooperation. In order to ensure the broadest possible transfer of knowledge and innovation, OLEC is currently preparing a new application for state funding under the funding guidelines for innovation networks, which expired in May of this year.

"OLEC has become an integral part of the network landscape and we have a unique selling point in Lower Saxony as a cross-technology energy network. As a cluster of excellence, we are trusted to continue to attract national and international attention and retain expertise. The support is therefore both an incentive and an obligation for all OLEC members," says Roland Hentschel, CEO of OLEC. The professional work of the network is also reflected in the constantly increasing third-party funds from projects and service contracts, which have become an important pillar of the work. "We proactively involve our members in all activities, from work plan design to the coordination of project consortia from the circle of members. This creates a significant added value for everyone involved in OLEC," Hentschel continues.

Future goals of the network, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary next year, are the strengthening of innovation activities, further professionalization and cluster excellence development, the development of new cooperative relationships, which increasingly spread throughout Lower Saxony, as well as the professional and sustainable development of international networking and project activities.

"Within the framework of our long-standing cooperation with the northern Netherlands, we have made good experiences in cross-border cooperation, which we currently want to intensify within the framework of a networking project on hydrogen applications in the INTERREG-A funding area and strengthen with suitable follow-up projects," explains Georg Blum, deputy cluster manager.

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