The first bioenergy village was created in Jühnde, thanks to the joint efforts of the regional municipality, the Göttinger Land Local Action Group (LAG) and the International Centre for Sustainable Development (IZNE). With the idea of replicating this innovative model in other municipalities, the actors who initiated the first bioenergy village came together to develop a LEADER project in order to scale up the model. 

The project began with an information campaign and a contest for interested villages. From more than 30 applications, 10 villages were selected based on some prerequisites (such as village participation and farmer commitment). These villages were intensively consulted to carry out eight feasibility studies. 

A subsequent LEADER project allowed another four studies of other territories. Two of those four villages decided to unite in a Wollbrandshausen-Krebeck cooperative and build a joint plant. 

This practice overviews the activities and results achieved by the initial project and also the examples of the bioenergy villages of Reiffenhausen and WollbrandshausenKrebeck.

The objective of the 'Bioenergy Villages' project is to set up power plants producing renewable energy from biomass in rural areas, on the basis of prior feasibility studies. 

This energy reduces CO2 emissions from heating and electricity consumption, as well as the use of artificial fertiliser through circular use of nutrients, thus improving soil health. 

The 'bioenergy village' model also aims to encourage communities to participate through cooperatives that can create new job opportunities, tackle environmental challenges and promote a more conscious use of resources.

Following the proven success of the pilot project in the village of Jühnde, the LAG Göttinger Land, the district of Göttingen and the IZNE developed a LEADER project to promote the idea and help other villages to follow the path of Jühnde. This subsequent project started with an information campaign that collected more than 30 expressions of interest from different villages. Field visits, surveys and meetings were organised to analyse the conditions. 

During the planning phases, aspects such as the heat consumption of the village homes, inhabitants' interest in the model and an estimation of investment costs were part of the feasibility studies. A price for biomass was agreed with local farmers and a business plan was developed for each village, including the creation of a cooperative to run the project. 

The two villages of Wollbrandshausen and Krebeck were a particular case, because they decided to cooperate and start a joint biogas plant and a cooperative co-owned by the two villages.

The idea of a 'bioenergy village' is based on a common heat supply of the village. A commitment of at least 50% of homeowners is crucial to make the investment in the heat grid economic. Therefore, it was important to inform the inhabitants of the villages properly about the benefits and how they could become co-owners of the project by joining the cooperative. 

Management of the project application, loan negotiations, procurement rules and contracts with companies were among the challenges that project promoters had to tackle in order to make the 'bioenergy villages' a reality. 

Close cooperation among actors from different sectors (municipality, LAG, research centre, farmers) actively supported by interdisciplinary experts (sociologists, psychologists, agricultural scientists, geographers, engineers) was essential. Political support, including early state funding to carry out the feasibility studies and give a reliable basis for investment decisions, was also key to showing how the model could work and its added value.