233 million euros will be invested from European funds and 7,000 jobs are expected to be created.
The President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol, and the Vice President and Minister for Energy Transition, Juan Pedro Yllanes, presented the Balearic Islands Energy Transition Plan today, accompanied by the Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera. This Plan is financed with 233 million euros from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Programme and its objectives include increasing energy production from renewable energies from the current 6% to 30% by 2026, as well as the creation of 7,000 jobs.
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President Armengol stressed that this plan includes specific projects that will represent “a fundamental qualitative and quantitative leap to achieve a just ecological transition”, which emphasises issues such as “the fight against energy poverty” and makes a “firm commitment to the implementation of renewable energies, shared self-consumption projects, sustainable mobility and the management of the water cycle”. On the other hand, he also recalled the fact that the funds that finance this plan come from European funds that establish specific support for island territories. “For years we have been committed to decarbonisation and the production of renewable energies, and the European funds now give us the opportunity to transform our reality in accordance with these objectives for which we were already working”.
Vice-president Yllanes also indicated that “this Plan is currently of strategic importance in order to stop depending on external energy sources and to commit to energy sovereignty. Accelerating the transition and the implementation of renewables is the most effective way to lower the electricity bill, as we have sadly seen in recent weeks. One of the objectives of this Plan is to energy-proof the Balearic Islands. Furthermore, it is also a commitment to transforming our economic model into a more sustainable one that respects the planet and that advances in the diversification of our productive fabric and generates new, stable and quality employment opportunities”.
Six action programmes
The Plan presented today is divided into six programmes. The first programme is dedicated to the creation of five energy transition promotion offices (6.5 million euros). These offices, which must cover the entire territory, are to accompany and guide citizens, companies and administrations in the absorption of aid, as well as raising public awareness and ensuring that the energy transition is inclusive and, therefore, reaches all levels of society.
On the other hand, the second programme provides for investment in innovative projects that can diversify the production model (33.8 million), financing projects that create stable, quality jobs and stimulate innovative talent.
The largest mobilisation of resources is for aid to boost energy transition. The aim is to reach sectors not covered by other existing aid and to promote energy generation, storage and the installation of vehicle recharging points. Beneficiaries may be individuals, with priority given to vulnerable groups; companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises; and the public administration.
Thus, the third programme allocates 70 million euros to meet the challenges of insularity, with the financing of more than 2,000 solar-powered recharging points, the promotion of shared rental systems and the promotion of public transport in areas of high environmental value. It also envisages accompanying the creation of low-emission zones and actions to decarbonise the sea, favouring the electrification of up to 20 ports and encouraging the construction of zero-emission vessels, among other actions. Finally, it includes actions for self-consumption and storage in water cycle infrastructures.