Impact of European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) on the promotion and use of solar energy in the Mediterranean*

The aim of this paper is to assess the contribution of European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes operating in the Mediterranean area as a supporting way to achieve the renewable energy objectives established in European Union Directive 2009/28/EC. It addresses a combination of impact and thematic assessment applied to projects tackling solar energy over the period 2007–13. Observations indicate that although not always measurable, ETC contributions to the use and promotion of solar energy in the Mediterranean represent a key step forward in higher deployment. The paper also suggest alternatives to improve projects’ outputs to be delivered in the new cycle 2014–20.


Introduction
European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) is one of the two objectives of European Union (EU) Regional Policy and constitutes a key driver for the reduction of economic, social and territorial disparities in the EU's territory. The ETC objective, also known as INTERREG, operates through 107 cooperation programmes of interregional, transnational and cross-border dimensions which co-finance projects according to specific priorities and needs of targeted areas.
Projects operating in the ETC framework respond to challenges encountered in diverse territories by implementing joint solutions based on soft actions 1 which are materialized into common methodologies, shared knowledge and exchanges of good practices among others (European Commission DG REGIO, 2011). Taking the example of sustainable energy, over the period 2007-13 the ETC instrument invested about €1.2 billion to support related actions, which meant a contribution of nearly 8.7% of the total European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Wergles, 2014). Energy-oriented projects and results are normally aligned with national energy policies and plans (NREPs). Moreover, ETC outputs also integrate shared visions of territorial actors who in the framework of regional, transnational and/or cross-border cooperation give specific added value to the interventions (e.g., MARINAMED, 2014;ELIHMED, MARIE and PROFORBIOMED Projects, 2013).
In contrast, ETC has denoted a lack of effective coordination to find compromises between the requirements of EU regulations and the legal frameworks of the involved member states (European Commission, 2011b). One of these compromises is linked, for instance, to the achievement of 20% with renewable energy sources (RES) established by EU Directive 2009/28/EC. According to the last progress report on renewable energy published by the European Commission, not all member states are on the way of achieving the established national objectives with RES by 2020. Some EU countries sharing Mediterranean waters (e.g., France, Spain and Malta) will need to assess whether their policies and tools are sufficient and effective in meeting their renewable energy objectives (European Commission, 2015).
Third countries can also benefit from ETC implementation throughout the coexistence of funding allocated to the instrument of pre-adhesion (IPA) or the European neighbourhood instrument (ENI) with ERDF. The cooperation promoted by these instruments and associated funds in the Mediterranean is possible throughout at least 15 different ETC programmes of transnational and cross-border categories covering specific geographical areas (e.g., MED Programme, 2015). According to KEEP (Interact Programme, 2012), in 2007-13 at least 104 projects addressing renewable energy were approved by ETC programmes in the Mediterranean. 2 As for the programming period 2014-20, a new regulation package aims to maximize the impact of European structural and investments funds (European Regulation, 2013a). A key novelty of this package is the integration of specific regulation for ETC (European Regulation, 2013b) and the definition of thematic objectives (TO) and investment priorities (IP) as a way to respond to the tendencies observed in the period 2007-13 where ETC programmes and projects operated by establishing diverse objectives with few place for synergies.
Therefore, the objective of this paper is to assess the contribution of ETC in the Mediterranean area as a supplementary way to achieve renewable energy objective established in EU Directive 2009/28/EC. The article pretends to give answer to the following research questions by addressing a joint thematic and impact assessment applied to the solar energy sector over the period 2007-13: • What are the characteristic outputs delivered by ETC projects addressing solar energy in the Mediterranean basin? • What have been the contributions of these ETC projects to the objective of renewable energy set up by the directive 2009/28/EC? • Are projects impact well measured in both short-and long-terms?

Methodology
The adopted methodology includes four steps: (1) desk research to obtain legal, policy and scientific references; (2) sample definition consisting of a selection of 14 projects co-financed by seven different ETC Programmes 3 addressing solar energy in the Mediterranean; (3) data analysis and assessment of quantitative and qualitative aspects leading to the measurement of the relevance of results as a supporting way for the achievement of the renewable energy objective; and (4) validation of the obtained results through a survey addressed to several experts 4 on ETC and solar energy.
Type of ETC outputs assisting solar energy deployment in the Mediterranean ETC projects typically aim at tackling common challenges from several angles. Concerning the solar sector in the Mediterranean, analysed projects were oriented, for instance, towards socio-economic aspects of solar energy sector (SHAAMS Project, 2014); policy and methodologies (REGIONS4GREENGROWTH, 2013); smart energy management (PV-NET Project, 2012) solar cooling systems (EMILIE Project, 2013) and solar power concentration systems (SOLEFLEX Project, 2012).
Although observed projects were framed in varied types of approaches, related outputs can be grouped according to three main categories: (1) diagnosis and common strategies; (2) demonstrative actions; and (3) transferability and capitalization. According to the analysis, 60% of assessed projects focused mostly on categories (1) and (2). Key outputs oriented to stimulate solar energy in the region were, for instance, the elaboration of databases; state-of-the-art reports; the design of common approaches and strategies; and the establishment of networks (category 1), virtual platforms, public consultations, energy plans, design of tools and pilot activities (category 2) and procedures, agreements, regulatory proposals, memorandum of understandings and policy recommendations for category 3.

What projects were delivered?
According to the analysis, 80% of projects focused on the solar energy sector as a whole (including all typologies: thermal, photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermoelectric). In addition, 60% of these projects also integrated energy efficiency and/or supplementary actions (e.g., mobility) into their working plans.
The fact of associating several solar sector typologies or associating them with other thematics may be justified with the risk of ignoring potentialities derived from hybrid systems or the shared infrastructure necessary for the maximization of the use of solar energy (e.g., smart grids, buildings). 5 The nature of partnerships, which are highly represented by public authorities, also justifies the general choices made within local contexts under holistic approaches.* In contrast, projects opting for a more specific thematic (e.g., solar PV) normally would achieve a higher impact as they target more specific stakeholders and deliver more concrete results.* Also, projects tackling more explicit issues can contribute to a higher development of the related economic sector in the territories of reference.* The assessment of the projects sample evidenced positive results obtained from a diversified typology of interventions which were addressed as a response to specific needs and challenges mostly identified at the local and regional levels. Accordingly, ETC contributed, inter alia, to develop skills in several types of public targets through training sessions; to define case studies to identify common and good practices; to support the energy-planning process of municipalities and regions; to raise awareness among stakeholders; and to conduct peer review of existent procedures and methodologies (Table 1).
On the other hand, as ETC programmes of the Mediterranean usually operate by addressing heterogeneous objectives and consequently limiting the establishment of synergies (Gomez Prieto, 2015), the analysis found that some projects also worked in isolation with little room for interactions among their related activities. Capitalization strategies were identified in just 40% of screened projects being weakly materialized through the establishment of punctual (rather than continuous) synergies with other ETC projects. To a lesser degree, 35% of analyzed projects developed joint activities with projects sponsored by the Intelligent Energy Programme. Finally, about 10% of projects showed a certain interest, rather than concrete actions, in aligning activities with European Investment Bank (EIB) requirements/possibilities.

Measuring the impact in the short-and long-terms
Projects impact assessment was focused on the short-and long-terms. The first corresponds to project interventions normally carried out from the beginning of activities till the end of grants, while long-term is the period between the end of funding till 2020. Four variables commonly used for sustainable energy projects (Intelligent Energy Europe, 2013) were analyzed as follows: • Amount of reduced emissions of CO 2 (measured in tons-equivalent of petroleum -Toe). In 60% of cases, for both short-and long-terms, it was impossible to estimate or measure the project contributions to this variable. As for the remaining projects of the sample (40%), project interventions represented a reduction of CO 2 emissions between 100 and 1000 Toe in the short-term and up to 100,000 Toe in the long-term (i.e., to 2020). • Installed power with solar energy (measured in megawatts -MW). For the shortterm, 20% of projects contributed to installing power capacity in a range between 1 and 100 MW, corresponding mostly to demonstrative power plants (pilots). As for the long-term, 10% of projects estimate up to 1000 MW of installed power if proposed measures are implemented after the end of grants. Commonly to both short-and long-terms, 40% of projects did not contributed to this variable, while for the other 40% the variable remains impossible to calculate. • Renewable energy production triggered (Toe). For project interventions framed in the short-term, these contributions referred normally to energy production of pilot power plants. Contributions were situated in from 1 to 100 Toe for 10% of cases. For 70% of projects it was impossible to calculate the amount of renewable energy, while for the remaining 20% there was no contribution. Concerning the long-term impact, estimations amount up to 100 Toe for 15% of projects, 1000 Toe for 10%, and 100,000 Toe for the other 10%. In 65% of cases, it was impossible to calculate. • Investments triggered (€). In the short-term, one-third of projects triggered investments ranging from €100,000 to €1 million. In contrast, for the remaining 70% of projects, this variable was impossible to calculate. Looking to the long-term, investments could represent between €100,000 and €1 million for 20% of projects and more than €1 million for 10%.
In general, considering that 90% of analyzed projects did not integrate measurement of quantitative impacts in their working plan and about 70% of them included pilot power plants or demonstrative installations, the vision of consulted stakeholders suggests that every pilot activity carried out within a project should always include performance measures, otherwise the concept itself of pilot experience would be lost.* Measurement of key variables should be mandatory in all ETC projects.* Moreover, key performance indicators (KPI) and life cycle assessment approaches were also suggested to complement the measurement of projects' impact.