Noureddine Boutarfa, President of Med-TSO
The President of Med-TSO, Noureddine Boutarfa, participated to the Sustainable Development panel of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) conference, held in Barcelona on November 26th, during which he spoke of the contribution of Med-TSO in the construction of a common program for sustainable development.
After reminding the participants about the human tragedies caused by the migration crisis which have not yet trigger an in-depth debate about the real causes of this phenomenon, President Boutarfa considered that solutions must be based on multilateral cooperation, large-scale development of energy infrastructure without distinction between electricity and gas, the participation of every stakeholder, and, of course, shared approach.
He requested from the concerned participants to be more ambitious than before and to replace the bilateral dimension with a truly multilateral approach, which is the only approach that will allow to provide support to large-scale industrial projects. In this context, the existing segmentation between gas and electricity should be eliminated and renewables should be at the center of the energy growth dynamics.
To this end, it will be necessary to put in place instruments which encourage the participation of public or private investors in addition to financial institutions in the infrastructure investments.
President Boutarfa also announced the Med-TSO Mediterranean Project which is being carried out since February 2015 with the support of the European Commission. This project aims to:
a) improve the global efficiency and the security of systems by sharing conventional and renewable energy resources as well as the power regulation capacity for increasing efficiency and flexibility of tools such as optimal dispatching, pumping and storage programs;
b) improve the technical performance of the power systems and increase the reliability of the grids;
c) contribute in the sustainability by facilitating the integration of renewable energies and by harmonizing the energy efficiency measures.
President Boutarfa also reminded the participants that the objective of Med-TSO is to reinforce regional cooperation between operators of electricity transmission grids and all the stakeholders, through:
a) establishment of a set of common rules for a coordinated exploitation of networks and their development;
b) establishment of articulated mechanisms of commercial transactions for both energy and network ancillary services;
c) technology innovation of transmission systems so as to enable more renewable energy integration;
d) identification of potential axes of grids’ development and the contribution to their implementation in due time.
President Boutarfa stressed that by opting for the sharing approach, Med-TSO committed to actively participate with MedReg (Association of Mediterranean Regulators) in the works of the UfM’s energy platforms, which are an important opportunity for cooperation. Med-TSO also repositioned its Mediterranean Project in this context in order to increase the value of the deliverables at the regional level.
While recognizing the existence of obstacles and the possible difficulty to overcome them solely within the industrial sector, President Boutarfa felt that if all the concerned parties worked together, starting with the implementation of platforms of organization, these obstacles will be overcome.
In conclusion, President Boutarfa said that constructing a common development agenda for the Mediterranean should be based on dimensions which reflect sharing. That is what will enable us to extend to the peoples of the Mediterranean the hope to reach sustainable development upon which a green economy will be based.