POTENTIALS’ approach is premised on the notion that in order to stimulate new economic activities and jobs in Coal Regions in Transition, management decisions should be based on a prospective analysis of business models that rely on renewable energy, contribute to the circular economy or scale energy storage. Guaranteeing a sustainable and combined use of assets and resources, otherwise overlooked in these high-velocity environments of phasing out processes, is the necessary ingredient for sound decision-making.
The proposal will be structured into five work packages (WP) in order to develop the methodology of the project, plus a contingency plan, in order to ensure a consistent approach. Apart from WP1 that address project’s coordination and management, the rest of them are presented here:
POTENTIALS will use prospective analysis to identify the optimum business models that coupled end-of-life coal mines and coal-fired power plants, as well as closely related neighbouring industries, should address. Connecting all their components and revealing the variables is essential to the evolution of this system.
POTENTIALS will use one of the most widely employed methodology to accomplish prospective analysis: the scenario method proposed by Godet (2000), a creative and structured process to undergo strategic foresights, and a differentiating factor in decision-making.
Work Package 1: PROJECT COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT This is the work package in which all the coordination tasks are included: overall technical coordination of the project, organisation and management of meetings, distribution of technical data and information among partners, preparation of minutes and integration of reports, and administrative issues, including relations with the European Commission. This work package will also cover the design, implementation & maintenance of the project website. Work Package 2: IDENTIFYING KEY VARIABLES, OVERALL INFLUENCE AND DEPENDENCE This work package is aimed at determining the most important key variables addressing the synergistic potentials of end-of-life coal mine sites and coal-fired power plants, along with closely related neighbouring industries, related with the implementation of business models relying on renewable energy, contributing to the circular economy or scaling energy storage. The aforementioned variables will be evaluated through the structural analysis method. To undergo the structural analysis of this complex system and to properly identify the overall influence and dependence of the different variables involved, POTENTIALS will use the “Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification”. This methodology, known as MICMAC, has been developed by the Institut d’Innovation Informatique pour l’Entreprise 3IE under the supervision of the LIPSOR Prospective Strategic and Organisational Research Laboratory. Work Package 3: SCENARIOS PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT IN A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER ENVIRONMENT This work package will undergo in first place the construction of exploratory scenarios developing business models that rely on renewable energy, contribute to the circular economy or scale energy storage. In second place, a reduction of the initial number of exploratory scenarios to a small number of promising combinations will be accomplished. Work Package 4: UPDATE AND RE-ADOPTION OF TERRITORIAL JUST TRANSITION PLANS As every complex system has its specific characteristics and constraints, POTENTIALS will justify the best business models options and show how they should be adapted according to the expected transition process, in order to cooperate in the updating and re-adoption of territorial just transition plans. Work Package 5: RESULTS DISSEMINATION: LESSONS LEARNED This work package refers to the activities that will be undertaken to support the dissemination and transfer of the Accompanying Measure knowledge and results to the whole European coal industry, policy makers, scientists, trade unions, NGOs and coal industry nearby local communities, ensuring a relevant impact on stimulating new economic activities, developing jobs and economic value, especially in relation to Coal Regions in Transition. As POTENTIALS will be finished in mid-2023, it can make a strong contribution in the future update and re-adoption of territorial just transition plans by providing a roadmap considering for the first time the synergistic potentials of end-of-life coal mines and coal-fired power plants, along with closely related neighbouring industries, an approach that nowadays is completely inexistent. Apart from delivering presentations in international conferences and the dissemination via the web page, where all the documents to be developed within the project will be posted, an international workshop will take place in Poland at the end of the project in order to present the final results from POTENTIALS, to which all previously mentioned stakeholders will be invited.