Excursion to Freiburg im Breisgau

On June 12 and 13, the Chair of Management of Renewable Energies organized a field trip to Freiburg im Breisgau with alumni of the Managing Climate Solutions (MaCS) certificate program and the REM-HSG executive program.

The journey began right on time at 7:58 a.m. at the St. Gallen train station with a roughly 3.5-hour trip to Freiburg im Breisgau.

Arriving in Freiburg on time, the group took the bus—in somewhat stormy weather—to the Schauinsland valley station and then rode the gondola to the Bergstation restaurant. After a welcome from tour organizer Rolf Wüstenhagen, everyone enjoyed a delicious meal.

After a hike of about 50 minutes, the group toured the Holzschlägermatte wind turbine, with interesting insights provided by Thomas Schuwald of the Freiburg Green Electricity Group, which builds and operates the wind turbine. The presentation covered topics such as the transportation of wind turbine components, regional differences between southern and northern Germany and Switzerland (as of 2025 (source: Staatsanzeiger, 2025), there were 803 wind turbines connected to the grid in Baden-Württemberg, compared to 50 in Switzerland).

After interesting insights and another hour-long hike, the group took the bus back to the hotel.

In the evening, the group went together to the Vauban eco-neighborhood, Germany’s first eco-friendly residential district, built in the 1990s. The goal of the eco-neighborhood was to build according to the latest ecological standards (thermal insulation, photovoltaic systems) as early as the 1990s. Another goal was to create affordable housing. The participants from the department, MaCS, and REM alumni were clearly impressed by the pleasant and collaborative atmosphere in the neighborhood.

The day then came to a close with a networking dinner featuring delicious food.

On Saturday, the group visited Badenova, a mid-sized utility provider. At Badenova’s headquarters, they first heard a presentation by Hans-Martin Hellebrand on Badenova’s focus and vision. As a utility provider, the company began a transformation process several years ago to shift away from gas toward renewable energy. This was followed by a presentation on the company’s digital strategy by Thomas Scheuerle, a former doctoral candidate at the IWÖ.

Following the networking lunch with green-tech startups, the excursion came to a successful close in the garden of Badenova’s premises in sunny weather with a presentation by Anne Hegemann on transformation and culture.

The participants described it as a very successful excursion, with inspiring presentations that showed concrete steps toward ecological transformations.