Brussels, 09/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), Fathallah Sijilmassi, who addressed the 3rd DESERTEC conference held in Berlin on 7-9 November, spoke of the need to develop ambitious Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in the field of energy to the benefit of both sides of the Mediterranean.
The southern rim countries will have to get ahead of growing demand. “The demand for electricity is increasing from 6% to 7% per year” (our translation throughout), and in those countries “production capacity will go from 120 GW to 200 GW by 2030”, said Sijilmassi. The development of energy production will benefit from the naturally and exceptionally sunny conditions and should produce surpluses that can be exported to Europe. The development of renewable energies and energy efficiency are therefore a “necessity in the region”. The EU, for its part, which has an “ambitious policy” on climate change, plans by 2020 to increase production of renewable energies to 20% of total energy production. Sijilmassi pointed out in November 2011 that the EU Energy Council has decided to set in place a Euro-Mediterranean partnership for energy centred on electricity and in particular on solar electricity production. This prospect, experts say, raises the question of the legal and technical framework of energy transport from the southern to the northern countries. Germany is said to be one of the countries most interested in importing alternative electricity and it was with this in mind that DESERTEC was first launched. Such plans currently come up against the difficulty of perfecting the European interconnection network, especially between Spain and France.
Sijilmassi, moreover, tackled the technical and financial aspects of projects envisaged, the two most significant projects being the “Euro-Mediterranean solar plan” promoted by the UfM and the other vast solar plan for 2050 promoted by a network of German firms. The secretary general highlights the complementary nature of the two projects. He has stated his conviction that the relationship between his institution and the Dii consortium which promotes DESERTEC is an “essential” component not only for the success of the Euro-Mediterranean solar plan but also more generally for the “economic and technical development of successful pilot projects”.
“Our role is to act as a catalyst or accelerator of projects. Thanks to our network of financial institutions, we are helping project promoters in all aspects of project development and implementation” of the initial phase of the technical assistance proposal, including financial planning and fund collection. (FB/transl.jl)