newsletter #01
MED-DESIRE MEDiterranean DEvelopment of Support schemes for solar Initiatives and Renewable Energies ENPI CBC MED - Priority 2 - Topic 3 - Solar energy
February 2014
Dear readers, a very warm welcome to the first newsletter of MED-DESIRE, the project funded by the European Union under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme aiming at supporting the take up of solar technologies and the improvement of energy efficiency across the Mediterranean area. The MED-DESIRE newsletter will introduce you to the activities, the relevant advances and the partnership of the project: in detail, each issue will contain an editorial including a brief focus or an interview on topics related to the sustainable energy and solar technologies in the different partner regions, a column devoted to the developments of the project, a column concerning the project capitalization activities, a focus on MED-DESIRE partners presentation and the current energy situation in their own countries, useful links and news.
Enjoy your reading.
Editorial Puglia regulation on solar energy and energy efficiency
Puglia Region has intensively legislated in the regulation of photovoltaic energy (PV) and energy efficiency (EE) and can be considered one of the Italian administrations that have better exploited the opportunities connected with the regional regulation in the energy field. In the last few years Puglia reached a national leadership in photovoltaic energy: since 2006 there has been a significant growth of PV electric production, that increased of +66% between 2012 and 2013. This was the result of favourable climatic and market conditions and of a long administrative and political commitment. Milestones of this process are the Regional Environmental Energy Plan of 2007 and several specific laws and regulations that, on one side, allowed the simplification of the PV plants authorization procedures, compared with the national ones, and, on the other hand, established more pressing limits for the protection of the landscape. Concerning energy efficiency, the recent regional regulation on the Energy Performance Certification (EPC) of buildings is a very innovative one. It promotes not only energy savings, the use of local materials and innovative technologies, but it also sustains the minimization of other resource consumption (soil, water, materials, etc.), to improve both energy efficiency of the building and the sustainability of the intervention. In the coming years, the main tasks of Puglia administration will be to increase energy efficiency in the private and public sector and to promote the setting up of small solar thermal plants for supporting the process of transition towards a more sustainable energy profile of its territory and for contributing to achieve national and European “20-20-20” targets.
Update on MED-DESIRE project The project in brief
Solar technology markets have experienced a steady growth in the last decade on the Northern shore of the Mediterranean basin, while the situation is still at a premature stage in Southern Partner Countries. Notwithstanding the shared political commitment and a common recognition of the huge solar potential of the Mediterranean region, some barriers to solar energy deployment and diffusion persist. These include, among others, weak institutional frameworks, lack of competence of energy practitioners, need of dedicated financial instruments, inadequate perception on the benefits of solar energy investments, subsidized prices of electricity produced by fossil fuel plants and technical issues (such as the quality of equipment and installations). The MED-DESIRE project’s main priority is to achieve tangible results on these challenges, removing barriers related to the legal, regulatory, economic and organizational framework of distributed solar energy technologies. The partnership of this 35-months long strategic project is composed by nine members from five countries, including three Italian partners, Puglia Region - Economic Development, Employment and Innovation Policy Area - Regional Ministry for Economic Development - Industrial Research and Innovation Department (lead partner) and ARTI, the Apulia Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation (co-actuator of the project), the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA); three Spanish partners, the Andalusian Energy Agency (AAE), the Andalusian Institute of Technology (IAT) and the Center of Energetic, Environmental And Technological Investigations - Solar Platform of Almeria (CIEMAT); the Tunisian National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME); the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC); the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA).
The kick-off meeting
The kick-off meeting was organized in Rome on the 10th and 11th of June 2013 and allowed the partners to better know each other and to discuss the main items related to the concrete start up of the project management structure and procedures. This task was made easier by the presence of representatives of the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) of the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme, who highlighted the major contractual, monitoring and reporting obligations. The meeting was also an occasion for sharing a more detailed planning of the technical work packages, in particular those related to: the state of the art analysis of the solar potential and support policies in the project area; the lowering of technical barriers impeding the take up of local solar markets; the development of innovative financial schemes and market stimulation tools.
The second project meeting
The second MED-DESIRE project meeting took place in Tunis on November 18 and 19, 2013 and was organized by the Tunisian National Agency for Energy Conservation - ANME, in collaboration with the Project Coordinator. The Technical & Scientific Committee was mainly devoted to share the status of activities of the different work packages and to program the next steps. A particular attention was given to the state of the art analysis of solar potential and policies, which is going to be concluded in the next few months. A specific focus was also devoted to the financial aspects, in view of the coming deadline of the first project year. The Steering Committee allowed completing a review of the work done by each project partner in the first project year, the difficulties faced, problems encountered and level of actual and forecasted expenditures. The meeting was concluded by a round table in which the next implementation steps were discussed and agreed.
Capitalization activities ENPI solar projects coordination meeting in Beirut
On April 29, 2013 a meeting was held at the Ministry of Energy and Water in Beirut aiming to the active coordination between ENPI CBC MED Solar Energy Projects in Lebanon. In addition to the representative of the Project Administration Office at the Lebanese Republic - Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the meeting was attended by representatives of the following ENPI projects: SHAAMS, MED-SOLAR, MED-DESIRE, FOSTEr in MED. The participants went through the keywords in each project and presented their similarities stressing that cooperation and information sharing is well needed. All participants presented their engagement in cooperating on making these projects a success and agreed on sharing four important data: pool of stakeholders/experts, legislations and policies, studies, dates of the events. The participants also agreed on the need to avoid overlapping activities, on the possibility of having the workshops for all projects in one event for maximum impact, on the need to market each other’s projects, e.g. mentioning all projects in the respective newsletters and websites, and mainly on the need for periodic meetings (steering committee), and the assignment of one focal point per project. A second coordination meeting is being planned.
ENPI CBC-MED Capitalization Event in Amman
On October 29, 2013 the MED-DESIRE project participated in the Capitalization Event, organized by the ENPI CBC MED Joint Managing Authority in Amman (Jordan) in order to gather, analyse and share emerging good practices and lessons learnt from the implementation of all ENPI CBC MED projects. In particular, the Amman meeting was devoted to the projects in the “Environmental Challenges” cluster and MED-DESIRE project participated to the “Renewable Energy” discussion group. The purpose of the meeting was twofold: on the one hand, allowing the projects in the same subgroup to share information about their goals and main activities, also by presenting one “good practice” and “challenge” per project; on the other hand, discussing about the relevance of the five Medium Term Needs that were considered most relevant by the majority of the ENPI CBC MED projects. The Lead Beneficiary (Puglia Region), ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and LCEC (the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation) represented the MED-DESIRE project at the meeting. Among the different solar projects, the ENPI Strategic project SHAAMS (Strategic Hubs for the Analysis and Acceleration of the Mediterranean Solar Sector) clearly showed a large potential for synergy and collaboration with MED-DESIRE, because both projects envisage the delivery of policy recommendations, the creation and promotion of funding mechanisms, the development of training and capacity building initiatives. The key good practice identified by MED-DESIRE is the creation of a common certification scheme that allows the growing of a common solar market, while the main challenge is that of finding effective financial mechanisms at national and local level for promoting solar technologies.
ENPI CBC MED Networking Event in Barcelona
MED-DESIRE took part in the ENPI Networking event organized by the Association of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce (ASCAME) - GMI project on November 22, 2013 in Barcelona. With over 50 participants, this event aimed at creating synergies and encouraging exchange of experience among 15 projects funded by the ENPI CBC Med Programme (MedDiet, MEET, I AM, UMAYYAD, MARE NOSTRUM, MED-JELLYRISK, GMI, MED-3R, SCOW, MED-Solar, SHAAMS, MED-DESIRE, FOSTEr in MED, DIDSOLIT-PB). The projects were presented highlighting the outputs and upcoming events where collaboration with other initiatives could be useful. Eva Pérez (IAT) represented MED-DESIRE and participated in the round table on Creating Synergies among projects. Among the key conclusions was the importance of engaging stakeholders in the promotion and dissemination of the projects, so as to foster the sustainability of achieved results and ensure that concerned actors are made aware of valuable tools, methodologies or approaches developed.
Focus on MED-DESIRE partners Renewable energy and energy efficiency in Lebanon
While the short term objectives set by the government of Lebanon for the year 2020 are a share of 12% of renewable energy (RE) in the Lebanese energy supply and a reduction in the demand growth of 5% of the total demand, the vision of LCEC extends to the creation of an evolving and self-sustaining programme. This is achieved through the creation of markets for the energy service companies and the implementation of hundreds of RE projects: solar water heater and photovoltaic, wind energy, sustaining these markets through awareness raising, governmental policies and financing mechanisms. Within the long-term energy vision, many national studies were launched to attract more investments. In November 2011, the Lebanese government adopted the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP) developed by the LCEC and according to the Arab energy efficiency framework. The Lebanese NEEAP became the first officially adopted NEEAP in the Arab world. It includes 14 initiatives that tend to maximize the use of energy efficient (EE) equipment as well as encourage the use of every RE potential. It will allow Lebanon to reach its RE and EE targets. LCEC is currently updating the NEEAP while developing the Renewable Energy Strategy for Lebanon. In parallel to the NEEAP and in collaboration with the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL), the National EE and RE Action (NEEREA) was developed. NEEREA offers interest-free-long-term loans to EE, RE and green building projects. This step encourages lots of companies to invest in renewable energy to secure their supply and save energy. Solar water heaters benefit from an additional subsidy of 200 USD offered by the Ministry of Energy and Water for prequalified systems.
The achievements of the SWH financing program till date
The achievements of NEEREA till October 2013 (in USD)
The Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation LCEC
The Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC) is a national organization affiliated to the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water. LCEC addresses end-use energy conservation and renewable energy (RE) at the national level and its vision in Lebanon is to achieve a low emission, green economic sector, shaped by the increase in the share of RE and the reduction in the demand on Energy. In addition to being the technical arm of the Ministry of Energy and Water in developing, implementing and monitoring its RE and energy efficiency (EE) policies, and to being the technical backbone for the evaluation of the NEEREA projects, LCEC is currently implementing several projects financed by the Lebanese government or by international organizations, such as: the Global Solar Water Heating (SWH) Market Transformation and Strengthening Initiative, aiming at the installation of around 190,000 sqm of SWH by the end of 2014 and a total installed capacity of 1,050,000 sqm by 2020; the Lebanese CFL Replacement CDM Projects, aiming the replacement of 3 million incandescent lamps by CFLs to 1 million Lebanese houses (Savings of 76 million USD, reduction of 163 MW on electricity demands in peak hours); the Beirut River Solar Snake (BRSS), that will be the first farm of its kind in the country, where a solar plant of 1MWp will be built on the Beirut River. LCEC’s main activities in the MED-DESIRE project are: the contribution to communication and awareness raising and information campaigns, the collection of information on legislative, technical and market issues, analyzing local needs and requirements for an effective technology and know-how transfer with reference to distributed solar technologies; the involvement in the organization and implementation of capacity building and training initiatives to ensure the quality of components and installations, providing data on political, economic, financial and technical framework conditions; the collaboration in the elaboration of the financial mechanisms implementation modalities, providing data for defining local framework conditions, selecting a target administration, analysing existing ordinances and adapting them to the local conditions and the selection of local actors that will take part in the trainings and capacity building activities.
The BRSS Project in Lebanon
Link / News http://europa.eu/ http://www.enpicbcmed.eu/ http://www.regione.puglia.it/ http://www.arti.puglia.it/ http://www.minambiente.it/ http://www.enea.it/ http://www.agenciaandaluzadelaenergia.es/ http://www.iat.es/ http://www.ciemat.es/ http://www.anme.nat.tn/ http://lcecp.org.lb/ http://www.nrea.gov.eg/
Consortium Project leader
AREA POLITICHE PER LO SVILUPPO ECONOMICO, LAVORO E INNOVAZIONE SERVIZIO RICERCA INDUSTRIALE E INNOVAZIONE
Puglia Region Economic Development, Employment and Innovation Policy Area Industrial Research and Innovation Department
Puglia Region implementing agency
Apulia Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation
Partners
Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea
Italian National Agency for New technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Center of Energetic, Environmental And Technological Investigations - Solar Platform of Almeria
Tunisian National Agency for Energy Conservation
Andalusian Energy Agency
Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation
Andalusian Institute of Technology
Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority
Contacts MED-DESIRE Project Manager Giuseppe Creanza g.creanza@arti.puglia.it
MED-DESIRE Communication Manager Francesca Tondi f.tondi@arti.puglia.it
Anna Liberti a.liberti@arti.puglia.it
This is the first MED-DESIRE quarterly newsletter. If you don't want to receive MED-DESIRE newsletters anymore, please reply to this email writing 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Puglia Region/ARTI and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union or of the Programme’s management structures. The 2007-2013 ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme is a multilateral Cross-Border Cooperation initiative funded by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). The Programme objective is to promote the sustainable and harmonious cooperation process at the Mediterranean Basin level by dealing with the common challenges and enhancing its endogenous potential. It finances cooperation projects as a contribution to the economic, social, environmental and cultural development of the Mediterranean region. The following 14 countries participate in the Programme: Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Palestinian Authority, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Tunisia. The Joint Managing Authority (JMA) is the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy). Official Programme languages are Arabic, English and French. The project MED-DESIRE is implemented under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme (www.enpicbcmed.eu). Its total budget is 4.470.463,70 Euro and it is financed, for an amount of 4.023.417,24 Euro, by the European Union through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. The ENPI CBC Med Programme aims at reinforcing cooperation between the European Union and partner countries regions placed along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.