On 6 May, GO15 has organised alongside with Med-TSO a technical forum, as side event of their Governing Board Meeting, hosted by IPTO in Athens on 5-7 may.
The forum structured on two panels: the first on Climate Change and Energy Resilience, the second on Powering the Digital Backbone: Integrating Data Centres into Grid and Spatial Planning.
Manous Manousakis, Ceo of IPTO and Sabah Mashaly, President of Med-TSO, opened the forum giving their welcome speeches.
President Mashaly highlighted the necessity of cross-border mutual support. She recalled the shift toward renewable energy and the rise of climate risks mean national power grids can no longer operate in isolation: interconnected neighbouring grids must share resources and technical expertise to balance out inherent variabilities (like wind and solar generation) and support each other during peak loads or extreme weather events.
The President of Med-TSO also focused on urgent call for policy alignment and investment as developing a seamless, resilient Mediterranean power system requires significant infrastructure investment. However, she also pointed out how current legal and regulatory barriers actively hinder this progress: policymakers must take urgent action to remove these hurdles and unlock the critical funding required for grid reinforcement.
Mashaly concluded underlining how expanding electricity interconnections across the entire Mediterranean basin is a strategic imperative. Coordinated investments and innovative technologies are necessary not only to integrate new renewable sources and ensure energy security but also to manage emerging complexities, such as the massive power demands of modern data centres.
Secretary General of Med-TSO Angelo Ferrante moderated the first panel of the forum on Climate Change and Energy Resilience, whose core discussion has been on examining how TSOs can strengthen grid resilience and cross border coordination while managing high shares of variable RES under increasingly extreme climate conditions, also considering shared solutions for a secure and climate ready Mediterranean power system.
Med-TSO has been highly represented in the panel, by Theodoros Tsakiris, Vice-president of Med-TSO and Director for International Relations of IPTO, Mario Sisinni, Vice-president of Med-TSO and Head of International Public Affairs of Terna, and by Enas Elswify, General Manager for Studies of Regional Interconnection Projects, EETC.
The second panel, moderated by Bruno Meyer, Secretary General of GO15, mainly highlighted how coordinated planning can ensure that new data centre clusters are both technically feasible and aligned with regional energy transition objectives. Panellists also shared practical insights, emerging best practices, and collaborative approaches to developing digital infrastructure that is secure, sustainable, and grid ready.
The cooperation with stakeholders in organising events like this is a prerogative of the vision of Med-TSO in being a competent and proactive guide for European and Mediterranean institutions and stakeholders, towards the creation of the mediterranean energy market.
