In September 2010, Trends magazine published an article on the Energy Club in Ghent Harbour. The energy club is hosted from within VeGHO, the association of Ghent Port Related Companies. ANSWER provides back-up to the energy club for the organization of information seminars or workshops, such as the EN16001 training in February 2010.
The director of VeGHO, Peter Van Severen, uses the article to explain how the energy club took on its current form:
In view of the 20-20-20 targets it is apparent that energy is of economic and strategic importance. As it is a task of VeGHO to look for challenges that are not a part of the members' corebusiness, the organization took up a proactive role in the energy transition arena. Hence the birth of the Energy Club. In cooperation with POM East Flanders, VeGHO organized an energy seminar in 2009 and a training (session) on EN 16001 in early 2010. Still to come are the energy seminar in 2010 and a follow-up event on EN 16001.
But VeGHO's dreams and ambitions are bigger than this. They are currently looking for funding options to perform a large scale energy inventory (supply and demand) for the harbour region. This type of inventory would highlight opportunities and bottlenecks, but most importantly it would allow for the businesses to manage energy on a higher (regional) level, beyond the company boundaries.
Some background information on the Port of Ghent:
- It is an industrial port: raw material comes in for production of goods, which are then shipped out (by boat, truck or train). In 2008, the added value from the maritime cluster was €240.2m. The added value from the non maritime cluster €3,121.8m.
- The port has several industries which produce a lot of CO2-emmissions. Most important are the steel plant and electricity production plants.
- Ghent Bio Energy Valley is located in the port of Ghent. This consortium includes 3 bio fuel producers.
- The world’s first carbon-neutral plant is located here.
A scan of the article can be seen here.
Origineel Vegho Trends 115.82 kB