Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Officials from nine southern European Union states expressed they’re concentrating on harnessing offshore wind and solar energy to attempt to turn the Mediterranean region into a renewable energy hub and stave off the threats of climate change.
The energy ministers of Cyprus, Slovenia, and Malta, Croatia’s economy minister as well as officeholders from Greece, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain declared in a joint statement that they’re functioning on setting up joint renewable energy schemes across borders without the red tape that could potentially sicken investors.
They called on the European Commission to lead a new study on the region’s renewable energy potential on which “informed decision-making and concrete action” will be carried on moving ahead with green energy projects. The announcement came at the MED9 Energy Ministerial Meeting in Larnaca.
how are MED9 countries addressing climate change threats?
George Papanastasiou, energy minister of host Cyprus, said that so-called MED9 countries are glancing at ways of generating green energy from offshore platforms because of the growing absence of land in Mediterranean countries on which to build such projects. Papanastasiou stated that some countries have already launched offshore wind energy pilot projects in shallow waters, whose results will be reviewed by fellow MED9 nations to tailor their skills.
There are also programs for wave-generated energy and floating photovoltaic units since there’s more significant capacity in southern Europe for such technologies owing to abundant sunlight.
Spain’s Energy Agency Director-General Joan Groizard stated that Mediterranean countries “can and must be at the forefront of the energy transition,” because they are the most weak to climate change.
A key challenge to tapping offshore wind and solar energy generation installations is plugging them into existing onshore power grids and interconnections to transfer to other countries.
Greece’s ambassador to Cyprus, Ioannis Papameletiou, stated that the Aegean has among the highest wind power powers in the EU, noting that there is “great room for collaboration and exchange of best practices.” He stated that Greece has set a target of introducing 2 gigawatts of wind power to its energy mix by 2030, raising that to 10 GW by 2040 and 17 GW by 2050. Italy’s ambassador to Cyprus, Federica Ferrari Bravo, stated: “Affordable green energy is also a powerful tool for peace.”
