Over the past 25 years, the North Hesse region has built up and leveraged extensive know-how in the field of distributed power engineering and energy efficiency. Successful companies, the University of Kassel and associated research institutions in the region are addressing a range of issues from distributed power equipment and its integration into existing supply systems, environmental-friendly construction and rational energy utilization through to climate-efficient production methods. The network of competence for distributed energy technologies, "Dezentrale Energietechnologien e.V. (deENet)", comprising over 70 companies, research institutions and service providers, was founded against this backdrop in 2003.