Renewable energies and tourism complement each other well. Wind and solar farms are a visible sign of climate protection and ecological progress. Renewable energy can play a positive role in destination marketing, as shown by the following tourism offers implemented by ABO Energy.
ABO Energy inaugurated the "Energy Experience Trail" at Weilrod wind farm (Germany) in 2015. The family-friendly hiking tour is peppered with information boards, games and quiz stations. It covers the history of energy generation from charcoal to renewable energy in an entertaining way. Highlight of the tour is a playground inspired by a pumped-storage power plant.
Information panels and interactive elements draw attention to energy demand and supply in general. The tour raises awareness of how closely energy production, prosperity, and environmental challenges are linked. Renewable energies are an essential part of the clean energy transition and offer the chance to solve this dilemma. The hiking tour was named an "exemplary energy transition project" by the Regional Association Frankfurt Rhine-Main.
The municipalities of Mörsdorf and Sosberg inaugurated "Geierlay Bridge," Germany's then longest suspension rope bridge, in autumn 2015. The project would not have been possible without the long-term income from the wind farm developed by ABO Energy. ABO Energy contributed additional "energy stories": a walking route with information boards as well as an exhibition in the local history museum.
On the footpath from Mörsdorf to the hanging rope bridge, our educational trail offers insight into the technology of wind turbines, the clean energy transition, and the development of the wind farm. In the local history museum, which ABO Energy has redesigned in close coordination with the municipality, visitors learn about life in the village then and now. The exhibition contains household appliances from different decades to illustrate how fundamentally electricity has changed people's lives.
In September 2012, ABO Energy inaugurated a five-kilometre wind energy hiking trail in the German Hunsrück region. The trail leads past several wind turbines that ABO Energy has built over the past twenty years.
Different generations of turbines thus offer visitors a view of the rapid development of the technology. Large display boards along the trail provide information on the background and technology of wind energy. The trail is aimed at interested citizens, hikers and tourists. An excursion to the Hunsrück Wind Trail is especially worthwhile for school classes, as many stations offer information, games and visual objects suitable for children.
At the village of Alsheim, Germany, ABO Energy has installed a wind energy playground with a 3.5 metres model of a wind turbine that produces electricity: When children turn the crank, a toy stove and television light up in two wooden playhouses.
ABO Energy has a long-standing history with Framersheim: Here, the company’s founders inaugurated their first wind farm which they had developed from scratch in 1998. Due to the site’s excellent wind conditions, the site was a perfect match for the company’s first Repowering project as well: After 15 years of operations, the three old turbines were replaced by new, more powerful ones in 2013.
ABO Energy used one of the original rotor blades of the dismantled turbines to create a gigantic display board along a hiking trail that crosses the site in the middle of a vineyard. Visitors learn about the history and repowering of the wind farm and how wind is turned into clean electricity.
