Wahlsdorf is a village with 300 inhabitants in the rural Fläming area, located halfway between Berlin and the Lusatia region. The village is not connected to the gas grid and relies on the Wahlsdorf energy cooperative, which feeds heat from an agricultural biogas plant into a local district heating network. The cooperative was established in 2012 with the aim of using heat generated by a local biogas plant – operated by the local cattle-breeding estate – to heat a former manor house, owned and operated by the municipality as a youth hostel. With the help of the regional DKB Bank, plans were extended to provide heat to more than 70 private homes and small companies in the village. The construction of a local district heating grid allowed households to switch off oil-fired heating boilers in their basements. The total investment in the project was 1.6 million euros. 

• Further reading: CLEW Factsheet Citizens’ participation in the Energiewende,
  
• CLEW research tour: Is Germany the laboratory for the energy transformation of the 21st century?, CLEW factsheet Combined heat and power - an Energiewende cornerstone?, CLEW factsheet Bioenergy in Germany – facts and figures on development, support and investment
• Date of publication: March 2016