Larnaca, Cyprus — Officials from nine southern European Union member states said on Monday they were focusing on harnessing offshore wind and solar power to try to turn the Mediterranean region into a renewable energy hub and avert the risks of climate change.
The energy ministers of Cyprus, Slovenia and Malta, the Croatian economy minister, as well as officials from Greece, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain, said in a joint statement that they are working to establish joint cross-border renewable energy projects without the bureaucracy that could scare off investors.
They called on the European Commission to conduct a new study on the region’s renewable energy potential, on the basis of which “informed decisions and concrete actions” will be taken to advance green energy projects, the statement came at the 9th Mediterranean Energy Ministers’ Meeting in Larnaca.
The so-called MED9 countries are looking into ways to generate green energy from offshore platforms due to the increasing scarcity of land in Mediterranean countries on which such projects could be built, George Papanastasiou, energy minister of host Cyprus, told reporters.
Some countries have already implemented pilot projects for offshore wind energy in shallow waters, and the results of these projects will be studied by the nine Mediterranean countries to design their own facilities, Papanastasiou said. There are also plans for wave power generation and floating photovoltaic units as there is greater capacity for such technologies in southern Europe due to the abundance of sunlight.
The Director General of the Spanish Energy Agency, Juan Groizard, said that the Mediterranean countries “can and must be at the forefront of the energy transition”, because they are the most vulnerable to climate change.
The main challenge facing the exploitation of offshore wind and solar power generation facilities is connecting them to existing onshore power grids and linking them for transmission to other countries.
The Aegean region has the highest wind energy potential in the European Union, Greek Ambassador to Cyprus Ioannis Papamilitou said, noting that there is “huge scope for cooperation and exchange of best practices.”
Greece has set a target of introducing 2 gigawatts of wind power into its energy mix by 2030, expanding that to 10 gigawatts by 2040 and 17 gigawatts by 2050, he said.
“Affordable green energy is also a powerful tool for peace,” said Italy’s Ambassador to Cyprus, Federica Ferrari Bravo.
