Across Berlin, Brandenburg and Hamburg, a delegation of state legislators from across the US South came together to examine how Germany is integrating high shares of renewables, modernizing grids, and building public support for its Energiewende (energy transition). The group learned about the strengths and pitfalls of different policy frameworks, and took some best practices and lessons learned from Germany back home to apply to their local contexts.

German Energy Policy 101

At the start of the week, our US legislators dove headfirst into learning about Germany’s energy policy goals and the infrastructure that the country has to achieve them. At the German Federal Foreign Office, officials outlined a pathway where renewables supplied roughly half of Germany’s power in 2024, targeting 80% by 2030 within the EU framework. They learned about the German approach to nuclear energy and the plans for phasing out coal by 2030-2038. Discussions at the Foreign Office covered areas of interest including agrivoltaics, grid enhancing technologies and overbuild plus storage economics, closing on the need for resilience, public buy in and replicable test beds.

The state legislators were then given an overview of energy policy at the German Energy Agency (dena) where they learned of Germany’s liberalized, highly distributed power market with 866+ grid operators, the rise of technology neutral capacity mechanisms and the importance of dynamic tariffs. Discussions on energy demands also sparked conversation surrounding the spread of AI and the energy needs of data centers across the US and Germany. At dena, participants discussed coupling energy demand growth to renewables, waste heat use and municipal heat planning. 

Our participants then headed over to Potsdam and had a meeting with the Brandenburg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy and Climate Protection on the cost and complexity of building grids, storage and adequacy for weather dependent renewables. The federal state, which is third in Germany for installed wind and solar, is advancing hydrogen for heavy-duty vehicles, adaptation in agriculture (agrivoltaics, water management, biomass, wetland rewetting), and pragmatic land solutions including fair contracts and solar along highways to ease space constraints.

"What an absolute incredible educational tour. I can not thank the teams at The Clean Economy Bridge and CSG South enough for arranging the trip.  From the first meeting with the foreign office all the way through the final meeting at SunFarming Research Center, the trip was eye opening!"
Bob Hensgens - Louisiana State Senator

Clean Energy and Coastal States

The delegation then traveled to Hamburg to meet with the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) to learn about its new Sustainable Energy Hub and infrastructure to provide renewable onshore energy to ships. 

As Europe’s largest rail port and Germany’s biggest seaport, Hamburg plays a vital role in facilitating business and international trade, with the United States being its second largest partner. We had strong representation from coastal US states within our study group, and our legislators were keen to learn about Hamburg Port Authority’s pivot from fossil imports to a clean energy hub.

Hamburg’s commitment to being climate neutral by 2040 and its strong initiatives to decarbonize port operations provided an example of the green transition in action. The port authorities discussed how they are investing in electrification, renewable energy, and alternative fuels such as green hydrogen, methanol, and ammonia. Through seminars, the participants learned how the Port has invested approximately €100 million in shore power and that about 70% of vessels can connect to 100% renewable electricity. 

In the afternoon, the participants toured HafenCity, Europe's largest inner-city urban development project and a pioneer in energy efficiency, green heating and the planning of sustainable urban infrastructure. With a 100 year flood design, controlled flooding protocols, early warning systems, and district energy backed by stringent building standards, the city offered a way of seeing a project in action.

Carbon Removal and Coal-to-Hydrogen Reuse

Our site visits gave legislators a real-world view of innovative technologies used in the Energiewende. At Novocarbo’s Baltic Sea Carbon Removal Park, the legislators saw how waste biomass can be converted into biochar (approximately 1,100 tons per year, with 80% carbon content). The process allows for the sale of excess heat as well as high integrity carbon credits. 

At the former Moorburg coal site, the legislators toured the development of Europe’s largest green hydrogen hub. Anchored by a 100 MW electrolyser, the project is scalable towards 800 MW. The hub sources treated water from the Elbe, manages oxygen byproduct, synchronises electrolyser dispatch with renewables and local loads, and plans for future links to national hydrogen core grids and import streams. 

Agrivoltaics in Practice

The last stop of our tour looked at energy innovation in agriculture. Legislators toured SunFarming’s Research Centre, exploring their innovative solar photo-voltaic (PV) technology, catered to farms. The dual use solar panels provide hail resistance, “zebra” light management and patented rainwater capture to enhance moisture retention and stabilize yields. 

Legislators also learned how farmers typically lease land to SunFarming, retaining farming rights, and benefiting from more stable and diversified income over a 30‑year lifetime. They learned about the model’s operations and how it strengthens public acceptance through visible co‑benefits including crop protection, drought resilience, animal welfare and consistent revenue. 

Beyond Boundaries

The Clean Economy Bridge Study Tour gave legislators from the US South and participants from Germany an avenue to exchange ideas and have candid conversations about the energy transition and what it entails for their local contexts. Through this immersive experience, our US legislators learned about the German energy transition and the extent to which its lessons are applicable back home. 

The core insight of the tour was simple: the energy transition is fundamentally a systems change, a challenge that will be overcome by prioritizing flexibility, storage, digitalization and fair governance happening alongside generation.

Challenging ideas and engaging in discourse is important, now more than ever. This tour served as a salient example of that idea in action. Our participants went away having learned about new concepts, challenging ideas in Berlin and having made some memories sharing a beer or two with each other! These networks allow us to strengthen the transatlantic bridge and give us new ideas for important topics to engage on with each other.