Güssing in Austria has torn itself free from the doldrums of outdated energy sources, exploiting its biomass goldmine and leading the march towards self-sufficiency.

From rags to riches: the transforming power of renewable energy

The energy situation in Europe  isn't exactly optimal.

Energy production is mainly based  on fossil sources.

For years this small Austrian town  beside the Hungarian border

But since the late 1990s it has become  a model of socio-economic success.

What's the secret?  It invested in renewable energies.

Here there are no wind farms,  but there are several biomass plants,

like this one, whose speciality  is transforming wood into gas.

But it's not only gold as a kind of money;

it's also the wealth  and the future of our community.

With very high efficiency  we take the energy out of the wood

and we put it into gas.  We turn it immediately to gas.

We don't burn it, we gasify it,  which is our own technology.

to produce energy, both electric and heat.

And this heat is distributed to residents

via several networks of pipes  that crisscross the town.

Five kilometres from the plant,  Toni, a retired teacher,

He's been connected to the town's  heating system for over 10 years.

We had it for wood or for coal.  We could use it for wood or coal.

And after that we put on a burner for oil.

And for over 10 years there's been  no more need for heating oil.

Hot water arrives directly from the plant  on the outskirts of the town.

The energy is coming  from the central station

and it comes from outside  through these pipes inside here.

The advantages for Toni are slightly lower  energy costs, less maintenance,

and no more worries about fuel supplies.

The energy self-sufficiency project  in Güssing

was partly subsidised  by the European Union.

It was led and coordinated  by this not-for-profit organisation.

and now a lot of people  all over the world

And they are here to learn  how we have done this model.

And it's possible now  to place this model worldwide.

Several dozens of companies  have set up in the village

thanks to the developed  energy production model.

Gerald has been working  in this laboratory for two years.

He's developing biofuel from the gas  produced by the town's biomass plant.

You see here, with the fossil diesel,  we have soot formations

from the burning light. In a diesel engine  we have a lot of soot formation.

And when we look here  at the Fischer-Tropsch diesel,

there is nearly no soot formation.  That's the difference.

You can see with this experiment  that the combustion behaviour

of the Fischer-Tropsch diesel  is much better than fossil diesel.

If I understand, without the implementation  of this power station,

Without the CHP plant?  The CHP plant is very important for us

because it's one of the only locations  in the world

where we have synthesis gas  of this high quality.

Renewable energies supply 30%  of Austria's total energy consumption.

The country's ambition is to be  self-sufficient in energy by 2050.

The town of Güssing and its region  want to become a centre of reference.

The latest project is the construction  of a research centre and a campus

The cost of the project  is over 200 million euros.