MED9: The Mediterranean, a green energy hub

LARNACA, Cyprus — Officials from nine southern European Union (EU) member countries said they're focused on harnessing offshore wind and solar energy to try to turn the Mediterranean region into a renewable energy (RE) hub and stave off the risks of climate change.

The energy ministers of Cyprus, Slovenia and Malta, Croatia's economy minister, as well as officials from Greece, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain, said in a joint statement that they are working on setting up joint RE 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's RE potential, on which «informed decision-making and concrete action» will be taken to move ahead with green energy projects. The statement came at the MED9 Energy Ministerial Meeting in Larnaca.

George Papanastasiou, energy minister of host Cyprus, said that the 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.

He 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's greater capacity in Southern Europe for such technologies owing to abundant sunlight.

Spain's Energy Agency Director General Joan Groizard said that Mediterranean countries «can and must be at the forefront of the energy transition» 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 transmitting interconnections to other countries. Greece's ambassador to Cyprus, Ioannis Papameletiou, said that the Aegean has among the highest wind power capacities in the EU, noting there is «great room for cooperation and exchange of best practices.»

He said that Greece has set a target of introducing 2 gigawatts (GW) of wind power to its energy mix by 2030, expanding that to 10