Assessment of selected energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in the Mediterranean Partner Countries

This article presents an assessment of selected energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) investments planned by nine Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) over 2011–2020. The investments looked at focus on: (1) urban energy efficiency and small-scale renewables (“demand-side”), and (2) large-scale renewable power generation (“supply-side”). The article also discusses the implications of deploying such projects in terms of potential energy saved or produced and economic impacts. The main findings of this article are: (1) the MPCs need to identify more EE and RE investments and accelerate the development process of the identified ones in order to fulfil their national targets; (2) the full deployment of EE and RE investments identified towards the achievement of the envisaged 2020 targets require significant investment costs and some subsidies; (3) significant (mostly) financial and organizational barriers still hinder the implementation of the examined EE and RE investments. Insights generated by this article can be useful regional messages for energy policy leaders in the MPCs to accelerate the development of the selected EE and RE investments.

► We assessed energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in MPC region.
► We assessed national targets by 2020 and proposed projects in the national plans.
► More projects are needed to achieve the envisaged 2020 national targets.
► Significant investment costs and subsidies are required to implement the projects.
► Significant financial and organizational barriers hinder developing planned projects.