The existing Mediterranean energy infrastructure was mostly designed and built more than 50 years ago and were based on the national-level energy policies and security of supply priorities of the time. Since then, the energy landscape has changed dramatically. Now, national dynamics must be harmonised with regional and global developments and policies. In particular, climate change policies and energy security measures have greatly impacted the existing energy infrastructures and transmission grids, and are expected to continue doing so in the foreseeable future. In order to achieve the national and regional energy policy objectives, the infrastructural endowment will need to be updated in most countries of the region. For the electricity grid, a combination of short-term goals and long-term patterns will guide development of the transmission network in the coming decades. Reinforced interconnection between Member States (MS) in the EU and South and East Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) are required in order to achieve more secure and more sustainable energy systems. This is also compatible with other energy policy objectives. For example, the EU member states are required to comply with the completion of an integrated Internal Energy Market (IEM) by 2020.
Rahmatallah Poudineh, Senior research fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy
Alessandro Rubino, Research Fellow in Economics, University of Bari
Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
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