Local administrator from Spain presented the good practices in (BIP) Building Integrated Photovoltaic.

On Wednesday the 10th of June 2015, it was held in Cagliari (Italy) a seminar for local administrators from all the countries involved in the project FOSTEr in Med, in order to “Share policies to Foster renewable energies and solar technologies in the Mediterranean area”.

FOSTEr in MED, a project funded by the  EU Programme ENPI CBC MED with 4.05 million, aims to promote the adoption of building-integrated solar photovoltaic technologies in six Mediterranean countries: Italy, Spain, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan.

One of the main activities of this project was to bring together local administrators of the involved countries, in order for them to share policies regarding the implementation of solar technology in their territories and to discuss the results obtained of the project.

Mrs Maria Grazia Piras, Councillor for Industry of the Region of Sardinia (organizer) opened the conference remarking that: “the promotion of eco-efficiency and reduction of primary energy consumption in buildings and public facilities is a key element of regional energy policy.

Her intervention was followed by the speech of Mrs Anna Catte, Director of the Joint Managing Authority of the ENPI CBC MED project says, according to the EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn (responsible for the European Neighborhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations), that the ENPI CBC MED, especially the new programme for the period 2014-2020, “is a source of inspiration for the European Union’s relations with neighbouring countries in this field, thanks to its ability to stimulate projects that can provide common solutions to the Mediterranean region’s needs.”

Prof. Antonello Sanna, Director of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture of the University of Cagliari, noticed that FOSTEr in MED turns on the spotlight on a “strategic theme for community life, as sustainable energy on which the Mediterranean community can meet to promote a new model of development.”

A round table gathered the representatives of local administrators of the six countries involved in project: Dr Stefano Piras, Director of the Energy Service of the Region of Sardinia (Italy); Dr Abdelkarim Ghezal, Director of Renewable Energy in the National Agency for Energy Conservation Efficiency and Dr Abderraouf Ben Said, Head of the Department of renewable energy in the Tunisian Agency for Professional Training (Tunisia); Mr Pierre Khoury, Director of the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC) and Mr Edgar Hajje, board member of Byblos municipality (Lebanon); Eng. Ziad Jibril Sabra, Advisor to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and Eng. Walid Shahin, Director of the National Energy Research Center (Jordan); Eng. Ehab Ismail, from the New and Renewable Energy Authority (Egypt); Mrs Mireia Cañellas, Responsible of Sustainable Development of the General Directory of Environmental Policies of the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Generalitat the Catalunya and Mr Pablo Valderrama, Cluster Manager of Solartys Spanish Association for the Internationalization and Innovation of Solar Entities (Spain) in representation of the Local Administrators in Spain invited by ASCAME.

The main conclusions of this session were the need to implement and improve financial incentives and loans related to renewable energy and also to foster the key role of public institutions, to disseminate awareness amongst the citizens and to the transfer of competencies and strengthening the cooperation in order to increase technical knowledge on innovative solar technologies. Further recommendations will be discussed at a political level in each country.

The Midterm conference of the project, which was organized by the Promotional Services Centre for enterprises, Special Agency of the Cagliari Chamber of Commerce (CSPI) was carried out in the framework of the seminar, with the aim to take stock of the state of the project implementation.