LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) 鈥� Officials from nine southern European Union member countries said Monday they're focused on harnessing offshore wind and solar energy to try to turn the Mediterranean region into a renewable energy hub and stave off the risks of climate change.
The energy ministers of Cyprus, Slovenia and Malta, Croatia鈥檚 economy minister as well as officials from Greece, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain said in a joint statement that they鈥檙e working on setting up joint renewable energy projects across borders without the red tape that could potentially repel investors.
They called on the European Commission to head a new study on the region鈥檚 renewable energy potential on which 鈥渋nformed decision-making and concrete action鈥� will be taken on moving ahead green energy projects. The statement came at the MED9 Energy Ministerial Meeting in Larnaca.
George Papanastasiou, energy minister of host Cyprus, told reporters that so-called MED9 countries are looking at ways of generating green energy from offshore platforms because of the growing scarcity of land in Mediterranean countries on which to build such projects.
Papanastasiou said that some countries have already undertaken offshore wind energy pilot projects in shallow waters, whose results will be studied by fellow MED9 nations to tailor their own facilities. There are also plans for wave-generated energy and floating photovoltaic units since there鈥檚 greater capacity in southern Europe for such technologies owing to abundant sunlight.
Spain鈥檚 Energy Agency Director-General Joan Groizard said that Mediterranean countries 鈥渃an and must be at the forefront of the energy transition,鈥� because they are the most vulnerable to climate change.
A key challenge to tapping offshore wind and solar energy generation facilities is plugging them into existing onshore power grids and interconnections to transmit to other countries.
Greece鈥檚 ambassador to Cyprus, Ioannis Papameletiou, said that the Aegean has among the highest wind power capacities in the EU, noting that there is 鈥済reat room for cooperation and exchange of best practices.鈥�
He said that Greece has set a target of introducing 2 gigawatts of wind power to its energy mix by 2030, expanding that to 10 GW by 2040 and 17 GW by 2050.
Italy鈥檚 ambassador to Cyprus, Federica Ferrari Bravo, said: 鈥淎ffordable green energy is also a powerful tool for peace.鈥�
Menelaos Hadjicostis, The Associated Press
