Gérard Dellinger is the winner of the 2020 Roger Leron Award

Yesterday, in normal times, FEDARENE members, Roger Leron Award finalists and stakeholders of the sustainable energy field would have gathered in Brussels for the annual Roger Leron Award Ceremony. But the extraordinary circumstances have led to the organisation of the first virtual edition. Yet, almost 100 participants responded to the invitation, to discover the outstanding individual who will receive the 6th Roger Leron Award, and to listen to inspiring interventions from high-level speakers.

FEDARENE’s President Julije Domac opened the floor, reminding guests that the event was not only organised to acknowledge the nominees’ achievements, but also to celebrate 30 years of FEDARENE, “a truly unique European network, gathering European regions and their energy agencies”.

We were honoured to welcome Commissioner Kadri Simson to celebrate this milestone with us, who thanked FEDARENE members for their efforts to advance the Energy Transition in their regions and at European level. Talking about the Prize, Mrs Simson stated: “this is a call for action from exceptional and resourceful people. (..) We need everyone to get engaged and act now to renovate our homes and our relationship with our planet, and I will be looking forward to working with you.”

Secretary General Seamus Hoyne then presented FEDARENE’s core activities, as well as our ambitions for the future: “FEDARENE and our members stand with the Commission and fully supports the EU climate and energy targets. We will continue to be a critical friend and challenge everyone to do more. We are very ambitious to translate these objectives into reality and in our regions”.

Christiane Egger, FEDARENE Vice-President for Energy Efficiency, honoured the memory of Roger Leron, one of the founders of FEDARENE and the soul behind the Award. Mr Leron, as she said, truly embodied the spirit of Energy Transition, and paved the way for the many nominees celebrated that day.

The Jury awarded this year’s Prize to Gérard Dellinger, the former mayor of Saint-Julien-en-Quint, a rural village located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, France, and the founder of ACROPREV, a local association for clean energy and mobility. He has crossed 93 springs and remains full of energy and enthousiasm to keep supporting the energy transition through innovative projects. One of his most recent initiatives in this regard is the launch of the first collective self-consumption operation last month: a pioneering operation at both national and European levels.

You can find a more complete biography of Mr Dellinger’s description here and watch the recording of the Ceremony here below.