Feldheim: how a small village leads the energy transition

Feldheim – Germany’s first energy-self-sufficient village

Feldheim in Brandenburg is Germany’s first energy-self-sufficient village. In cooperation between citizens, the municipality and business, its own electricity and heating network was built – entirely without fossil energy. The success story shows: the energy transition is feasible, affordable and social.

What many consider a distant utopia has long been reality in Feldheim: the Brandenburg village has completely freed itself from fossil energy. For more than 20 years, wind turbines, a biogas plant, solar power, power storage and a heating network have been generating the energy for its roughly 130 inhabitants – independently, sustainably and securely.

The vision began in the 1990s with a bold student and an open-minded village community. Today Feldheim has its own electricity and heating network, which is co-managed by the local population. The model: citizen participation instead of supply from outside. Thanks to direct access to cheap, locally produced electricity and heat, everyone benefits – socially and economically.

But Feldheim supplies not only energy but also inspiration: numerous international delegations come to study the success model. The motto: no technology imposed from above, but participatory solutions that grow with the people on the ground. In this way a village becomes a model for the world.

It happened here. Here it is no longer a utopia, not a project for the future – it was all realised more than 10 years ago. And it still works.

Michael Raschemann, Energiequelle GmbH

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Energy transition? We’re doing it.

For a future worth living

More about Feldheim Energiequelle website