Offshore Electricity Infrastructure in Europe - European Wind Energy ...

Annex F – transfer to the Mediterranean region
F.I Introduction and drivers
The idea of creating a European super grid is not
new and the Mediterranean region will be a fundamental
part of this grid. OffshoreGrid focuses on the
integration of international electricity infrastructure
and offshore wind energy, and therefore focuses on
Northern Europe. This section provides a qualitative
analysis for the Mediterranean region, and investigates
how the results of the previous chapters can be
interpreted in a Mediterranean context.
The Mediterranean context is much different from
Northern Europe:
• In Southern Europe, the same drivers for developing
interconnections exist 64 . However, where the economical
trade of electricity and the integration of
renewables can be seen as the main drivers in the
North today, most of the power interconnections between
countries and regions in the Mediterranean
are (being) built for reasons of security of supply.
• Market integration is much lower in the
Mediterranean region. Many electrical interconnections
exist or are in development stage, but
combining them with an integrated international
power pool as in Northern Europe is today still unrealistic
and very challenging.
At the same time, numerous benefits exist that
make an interconnected (on/offshore) grid in the
Mediterranean very interesting. Mediterranean countries
fall within three time zones, have different
climatic conditions and renewable energy resources,
different living standards and habits. An interconnected
grid would be very helpful for the stability of
the system, the reduction of variability, the balancing
of surplus electricity and deficits, the optimisation of
the operation of the national power systems, and the
economical trade between countries.
In the next sections, the Mediterranean countries are
examined in three wider sub-regions:
• North Mediterranean
– EU countries: Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy,
Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain.
– Non-EU countries: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina,
Croatia, former Yugoslavian Republic of
Macedonia, and Serbia.
• South West Mediterranean
– Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.
• South East Mediterranean
– Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and
Syria.
F.II General overview of
the electrical system in
Mediterranean
Energy profile
The Mediterranean region accounts for about 9% of
the world’s energy demand and will have an estimated
total electricity generation of about 3289 TWh by
2030. Today most energy is consumed by the countries
in the North of the Mediterranean Sea (70% of
the total).
Generally, the South Mediterranean countries are facing
rapid demographic growth combined with relatively
low incomes, a rapid urbanisation rate, and important
socioeconomic development needs. These characteristics
translate into a rapidly growing demand for
energy services and related infrastructure. By contrast,
the North Mediterranean countries are generally
more mature economies, characterised by much more
stable energy demand projections.
64 As discussed previously, the three main drivers are security of supply, the economical trade of electricity, and the large-scale integration
of renewable energy.
146 OffshoreGrid – Final Report