Energy transition will mark the political agenda for the
next years in the EU Members States, not only by the
commitments achieved, but also by the urgency of
Climate Change hazards. The Mediterranean Region
acquires a relevant role for its vulnerability to rise of
temperatures, sea level rise and scarcity of water and
resources. Energy supply is one of the priorities for
Europe, and most of the efforts should be oriented on
renewables as the principal energy source option to
support.
EU Projects represent an opportunity to be oriented on
renewables and to bring new ideas and initiatives not
only at scientific field but also for economy, social and
territorial development. In the current programming
period, the Interreg MED Programme organizes its
architecture into eight Thematic Communities grouped as
well in three axes: 1) Innovation; 2) Low Carbon Economy;
and 3) Natural and cultural resources.
The Renewable Energy Community forms part of the
Low Carbon Economy axe and it is constituted by six
“Modular” Projects and one “Horizontal project, managing
the community. The MED RES Community is formed by
more than 115 institutions, 57 regions divided among 10 EU
Member states and 3 countries from the instrument for
Pre-Accession Assistance, all around the Mediterranean
Sea. The common objective of the community members
is fostering low-carbon strategies and energy efficiency in
the MED territory and particularly, to increase the share
of renewable local energy sources in the energy mix
strategies and plans of MED islands and rural areas. These
activities in this framework have been organized through
six different projects:
LOCAL4GREEN – "LOCAL Policies for GREEN Energy",
supports local authorities in the design and implementation
of innovative fiscal policies, intended to promote the use of
RES both in the public and private sector. These local fiscal
policies are implemented in 75 pilot municipalities, located
in the rural territories and islands of the MED region.
(https://local4green.interreg-med.eu/).
StoRES – "Promotion of higher penetration of distributed
PV through storage for all", main goal is development of an
optimal policy for the effective integration of photovoltaics
(PV) and energy storage systems (ESS), via testing smart
solutions in MED islands and rural areas. This project aims
to increase PV penetration in the energy mix of islands
and rural areas in the MED, by integrating PV and
ESS, under an optimal market policy by removing the
constraints of grid reliability and RES intermittency.
(https://stores.interreg-med.eu/).
COMPOSE – "Rural Communities engaged with positive
energy", contributes to an increased sustainable RES
planning capacity at the decision-making and planningexpert
levels. The project main objective is to promote
new business models and technology development to
compose green economy model thanks to the connection
of local potentials to sustainable energy supply chains.
By promoting the development of local business, in
combination with the development of local added value
chains, it provides a RES development planning synthesis
model and therefore the increase of renewable energy mix
in selected areas. (https://compose.interreg-med.eu/).
PRISMI – "Promoting RES integration for smart
Mediterranean islands", aims to support local authorities
of MED islands in planning their transition towards a
low carbon and climate change resilient energy systems
in a cost-effective way. To do so, PRISMI developed an
integrated toolkit to assess and map RES distribution for
the targeted elaboration of energy scenarios and technoeconomic
feasibility analysis. Moreover, a network has
been established in order to power up the ambitious
transition. (https://prismi.interreg-med.eu/).
PEGASUS – "Promoting Effective Generation and
Sustainable Uses of electricity", is a cooperation project
where a group of public and private bodies, involved in
the energy sector, try to design the business model of the
microgrids in the coming future power system. The goal is
being achieved through the simulation, in several sites, of
the microgrid behaviour and interaction of its members:
consumers, prosumers (PROducer and conSUMER) and
prosumers (producer, consumer and storage).
(https://pegasus.interreg-med.eu/).
Forbioenergy – "Forest Bioenergy in the Protected
Mediterranean Areas", develops innovative
planning tools and operating procedures aimed
to exploit the full potential of biomass in
protected areas, by reducing the barriers that hinder the
development of the bioenergy and at the same time,
preserving the biodiversity of the natural areas. Project actions are implemented through a participatory and
shared process
that involves public and private key actors.
(https://forbioenergy.interreg-med.eu/).
All the instruments and actions developed during
the MED RES Community projects, have a high
replicability potential. For that purpose, the Community
proposes a common merging approach based on the
complementarities of the projects results. The aim is to
drive the capitalization of their tools and methodologies
through a strategic planning and management tool
based on an ecosystemic approach. So that is born the
concept of Ecosystemic Transition Units (ETUs). An ETU
should ensure a set of basic components that will allow
to obtain the application to green fiscal policies and
subsidies in order to accelerate the energy self-sufficiency,
job creation and social development of a territory. The
basic components are classified in four groups: energy
community; energy planning; energy facilities and energy
governance.
With the objective to take into account the needs and will
of the Interreg MED local territories, the RES Community
is organizing 6 regional consultations, to consensus
the concept and build a common denomination of "Ecosystemic Transition Units" at MED/EU level. The
consultations will include all the relevant stakeholders
related to Renewable Energy and territorial planning of 6
Interreg MED countries: Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Greece
and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The shared and consolidated
results of these consultations will allow creating dedicated
policy papers that will be presented at EU level.
Consequently, the creation of the ETUs, will be a
fundamental tool and revitalization guideline, allowing
to spread much more the projects tools, results and
conclusions and to reach policy makers, local authorities
and specific target groups, permitting the major inclusion
of RES in the future plans and strategies. Local level
and bottom-up strategies will grow and push for the
enhancement of technologies and solutions based on RES
in the energy plans and strategies of the MED area islands
and rural areas.
[1] A. Boulangeris with Environment Park, via Livorno, 60, 10144 Turin, Italy. Email: alexia.boulanger@envipark.com
[2] D. Ceh is with Scientific Research Centre Bistra Ptuj, Slovenski trg 6, 2250 Ptuj, Slovenia. Email: danilo.ceh@bistra.si
[3] C. Echave is with Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona Spain. Email: cynthiaechave@bcnecologia.net
[4] J. Shaw-Taberlet is with Axelera, Rond-point de l’échangeur – Les Levées, 69360 Solaize, France. Email: jennifer.shaw-taberlet@axelera.org
Contact details:
Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče
Bistra Ptuj
Scientific Research Centre Bistra Ptuj
Slovenski trg 6, SI - 2250 Ptuj - Slovenia
Tel: +386 2 748 02 68
Web: www.bistra.si