Spanje bindt zich aan afspraak over elektriciteitsverbindingen (en)
The Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP), is one of the strategic projects of the Union for the Mediterranean created in 2008, whose aim is to reach 20 gigawatts (GW) in installed capacity of renewable electric energy by 2020 in countries on the Mediterranean waterfront. So that the MSP becomes a reality we must be able to rely on electricity interconnections, both in the South and North of the Mediterranean, as between Mediterranean Europe and the rest of the continent. Presently the sole operating power line between Europe and Northern Africa joins Spain and the Kingdom of Morocco, providing Spain with a key role in the Plan's implementation. The financing of the projects must rely on public and private institutions: community funds, loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and international and regional financing bodies, as well as the ample participation of foreign direct investment. The MSP is also an instrument to boost economic, institutional and technical cooperation between countries and channelling investments in the region which shall contribute to its economic development.
The Spanish EU Presidency will host the Mediterranean Solar Plan Conference in Valencia, an appointment which has gathered leaders in charge of energy of the EU and Mediterranean waterfront countries and institutions within the sphere of energy and cooperation for economic development, in order to consider and debate on the challenges and opportunities which the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP) represents, a project whose aim is to reach 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 in installed renewable energy power in the region. In 2008, the Summit of Heads of State and Government's of European, North African and Middle East countries agreed to re-launch EuroMediterranean cooperation, a forum whose aim is to attain peace and prosperity in the area by means of cooperation with regards to the economy, policies, justice, security, etc. and the setting up of specific results which are included in the so-called Union for the Mediterranean. The MSP is one of the projects considered within the Union for the Mediterranean, in which 43 countries are present, including the 27 EU members.
Delegations from Egypt, Italy, Malta, Germany, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Belgium, Portugal, Greece and Tunisia have attended the Conference and figures such as the Secretary of State for Energy, Pedro Marín, the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, Philippe de la Fontaine Vive Curtaz, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Nobuo Tanaka and the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency, Helène Pelosse. Countries on the Mediterranean's southern coast have a great potential to produce energy from renewable sources, whether it is to contribute to self-supply or to market surpluses. Reaching the set objective (20GW in renewable energies by 2020) will also imply the development of technical capacities and qualified job creation, whereas for European countries it will be an element which may contribute to comply with requirements imposed by European regulation on the consumption of renewable energies in 2020 (20% of total energy).
The diverse analyses carried out identify the high economic costs implied, the need to rely on a stable institutional context which favours investment, the removal of legal and institutional barriers and the building of infrastructures and appropriate interconnections as the MSP's main challenges.
Integration and economic cooperation
The regional integration which the MSP is in search of requires two essential elements so that it may become true: the existence of electricity interconnections to evacuate produced energy and the establishment of an institutional shared framework to facilitate a regulatory and legal convergence. Presently, there is one sole operating electricity interconnection between Europe and North Africa (the power line which unites Spain and the Kingdom of Morocco) and with a reduced exchange capacity. We must obtain further physical integration with international electricity interconnections between the South and North of the Mediterranean and between Mediterranean Europe and the rest of the continent to transport existing electricity surpluses and to make the most of the Plan's potential. This singularity provides Spain with a key role in the Plan's implementation.
On the other hand, MSP projects will act as a vector for development, since they will supply the necessary energy for economic growth, making the most of the region's comparative advantages in terms of renewable resources (particularly wind and solar energy); they will supply the energy services which a modern economy requires and they will improve technical and technological training. Energy efficiency must also be promoted to make the most of the potential of producing such an amount of energy.
Many countries in the region present very low energy consumption per capita and at the same time high energy intensity rates, they use a lot of energy to produce goods and services. Excellent natural conditions for the development of wind and solar energy must enable countries on the southern coast to create knowledge nuclei (clusters) and qualified employment to expand knowledge and good practices to other spheres of the economy. In this sense, it is necessary to articulate knowledge back-up, cooperation and transfer systems for countries in need of Europe's accumulated experience in the development of renewable energies.
Project financing
The identification of projects which will contribute the most to the compliance of the MSP is already underway and according to studies carried out to evaluate the potential of existing renewable energy in the region, the best option is a combination of wind, thermoelectric solar and photovoltaic solar energy, technologies which to this day present competitive costs with fossil fuels in certain areas of the region.
Nevertheless, renewable energies today still need to guarantee their viability, requiring the articulation of balanced economic support systems which foresee the suitability of costs and their reduction in time until they disappear when the various technologies become profitable by themselves. The installation of 20 GW power as aimed by the MSP requires a large amount of financing at a time when it is difficult to access loans and the global economic crisis. Financial markets of developing countries have insufficient funds and inadequate conditions for the type of projects which must be developed. Therefore, MSP financing must be based on the participation of public and private funds, community funds, European Investment Bank (EIB) loans and international and regional financial bodies, as well as the ample participation of foreign direct investment.
To provide investor confidence, regulation must be foreseeable and must offer incentives, regarding economic aspects and technical standards applied to the projects. A day prior to the MSP Conference, the European Investment Bank (EIB) celebrated the VIII Conference on Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), a forum in charge of the Mediterranean Solar Plan's financial coordination. During the inauguration of the VIII Conference, the Secretary of State for Energy, Pedro Marín, highlighted the coincidence in time and location of the FEMIP and Mediterranean Solar Plan Conferences which is good proof of the different institutions' commitment to impel cooperation in the field of energy.
Marín insisted in the need to create regulatory harmonised frameworks and the importance of energy efficiency as an engine for sustainable economic growth, as well as attracting attention on the need to carry out interconnections to be able to make the most of the benefits of financial schemes which the EIB could provide and other institutions or countries.