Background The EU’s ‘climate and energy package’ became legally binding in 2009 and it includes targets for Member States to reduce CO2 emissions by 2020. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources is promoted as a key mechanism to help achieve such targets. Polish targets for increased renewable energy uptake mean that the country is obliged to ensure that 15% of gross final energy consumption will be produced from renewable sources by 2020. This target remains feasible since Poland has a strong potential for generating renewable energy. Analysts suggest Poland could, by 2050, be sourcing as much as 48% of its energy from renewable sources. However, supply and demand for renewable energy in Poland currently remains restricted by, amongst other things, a lack of awareness about renewable energy and a lack of tools for facilitating uptake. Objectives The main objective of the ‘OZERISE’ project is to demonstrate an innovative rural development model based on helping farmers to increase production of renewable energy for localised uses (via various technologies including biogas, wind and solar power) whilst also carrying out actions to better understand how to reduce overall energy consumption on farm holdings and in farm households. A territorial planning methodology will be tested, which involves creating a cluster of farms that are willing to work together to pilot an integrated set of tools for energy management and production. ICT approaches will be applied to coordinate, monitor, advise and steer the cluster members’ energy activities. The project aims to establish a replicable model for the set-up and running of sustainable micro-energy grids in rural areas. These grids will be capable of producing local socio-economic and environmental benefits which in turn contribute to climate action targets at national, European and global levels. Expected results: Monitor energy consumption on 10 farms; Demonstrate new prototype tools for assessing energy efficiency on farms against economic criteria and other influential agricultural data such as weather conditions; Demonstrate a territorial planning and decision support system for sustainable energy planning and management on farms;Develop an ICT tool for collating and analysing data to inform the operations of the new territorial planning and decision support system for sustainable energy planning and management on farms; Establish the conditions and requirements for setting up at least one farm cluster capable of operating a micro-grid. This would include five or more of the monitored farms committing to investing in renewable energy systems; Increase the participating farms’ share of renewable energy usage by more than 20%whilst also reducing their energy and heat consumption by 5-15%; and Demonstrate possibilities for broadening the project results via replication through wider or additional farm clusters linked within energy micro-grids.