Projects

The Paris Declaration

The Paris declaration adopted by the 43 member states at the Paris Summit of July 2008 states that “the UfMS is tasked to explore the feasibility, development and creation of a Mediterranean Solar Plan”.

Objectives

1. Attain by 2020 a capacity 20 GW of new generation capacities fuelled by renewable energy sources, mainly wind and solar, on the South shore of the Mediterranean. This represents the power consumption of millions households. At the moment, it is slightly above 1 GW (hydro excluded).

 

2. Supply the local market with most of the electricity produced while exporting a part to the European Union. Revenues generated by exports to the EU will ease the development of profitable and sustainable projects. Improve the energy efficiency in the Mediterranean region.

 

3. Improve energy energy efficiency in the Mediterranean region

 

4. Create jobs and industrial capacities in the Southern Mediterranean countries

 

Create the framework conditions allowing a large- scale and market-driven deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies in this area

The main concern of the MSP is how to create large-scale, private sector-driven and ultimately self-sustained markets for REEE technologies in the Mediterranean that will lead to the emergence and then consolidation of secure, affordable, and clean energy systems in the wider UfM area. To do so, one has to go beyond the level of projects and think in terms of markets and systems: For just a handful of projects, private companies will simply not be ready to make the necessary large-scale investments on the ground – into power plants, manufacturing firms, and R&D and training facilities – that are needed to fulfill the aspirations of the south. Namely:

* To make use of the excellent natural conditions prevailing in the Mediterranean and turn renewables into a new column of their energy systems

 

* To create a sufficiently expansive pipeline of new energy projects (sufficient to respond to the quickly growing domestic demand for energy services)

 

* To bring the associated costs down (to levels acceptable for citizens),

 

* To build up local value chains around these new technologies (able to create the needed jobs for their young populations

 

“Co-Ownership Dimension”

These goals can only be reached by creating dynamic, regionally integrated and private sector-driven markets for REEE products. A large involvement of the concerned stakeholders, in particular of the Member States, is required to achieve this goal. This “co-ownership dimension” between the rims of the Mediterranean is of utmost importance.

The implementation of the MSP