(29 Sep 2022)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4399820
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Feldheim - 28 September 2022
1. Wind turbine, Feldheim village in the background
HEADLINE: German eco village unfazed by rising energy costs
2. Wide of houses, wind turbines in the background
ANNOTATION: While Europeans watch their energy bills soar as the war in Ukraine drives up the price of natural gas, oil and electricity,
3. Sign reading "Energy self-sufficient district Feldheim", wind turbines in the background
ANNOTATION: The tiny German village of Feldheim has been energy self-sufficient for a decade.
4. Wide of solar panels on roof, pan to village and wind turbines
ANNOTATION: The village of 130 built solar panels, wind turbines and other ways to generate its own eco-friendly energy to keep the lights on and homes warm.
5. Close of display inside a wind turbine showing wind speed and power produced
ANNOTATION: Now the residents enjoy some of the cheapest electricity and natural gas rates in Germany.
6. SOUNDBITE (German) Siegfried Kappert, Feldheim resident:
"We looked for a path and found one. I can say, quite honestly, that we're proud of this."
7. Top of biogas plant
ANNOTATION: And now the residents don't have to worry about the price of their energy bills.
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Kathleen Thompson, Feldheim New Energies Forum:
"They can all sleep well at night. They've got no concerns because the prices are not going to change, not in the immediate future anyway."
9. Various of of wind turbines
ANNOTATION: The community approved so many turbines that it actually exports about 250 times as much electricity as it consumes.
STORYLINE:
Europeans are opening their energy bills with trepidation these days, bracing for hefty price hikes as utility companies pass on the surging cost of natural gas, oil and electricity tied to Russia's war in Ukraine.
Many are trying to conserve energy by turning down the heating and shutting off lights this winter.
Not the people of Feldheim, population 130.
Located about an hour and a half south of Berlin, this modest but well-kept village has been energy self-sufficient for more than a decade.
A bold experiment launched in the mid-1990s saw Feldheim erect a handful of wind turbines to provide electricity to the village.
Then it built a local grid, solar panels, battery storage and more turbines.
A biogas plant put up to keep piglets warm was expanded, providing extra income to the farmers' cooperative, which pumps hot water through a village-wide central heating system.
A hydrogen production facility is also under construction.
Now, 55 wind turbines can be seen but not heard on the sloping farmlands around Feldheim and residents enjoy some of the cheapest electricity and natural gas rates in Germany.
Feldheim's hands-on approach to producing its own eco-friendly energy draws thousands of visitors from around the world each year and contrasts with the way Germany as a whole still relies on fossil fuel imports for much of its needs.
That became painfully apparent when Russia invaded Ukraine, upending the reliance Germany and other European countries had on Moscow's coal, oil and natural gas.
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