Canary and Balearic Islands agree on a specific decarbonisation roadmap for the islands

The Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, held a meeting this Friday, December 10, with the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Energy Transition, Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory of the Balearic Islands, Juan Pedro Yllanes, where they have agreed to carry out joint actions against climate change and for the decarbonization of the islands.

In this sense, both leaders have established a roadmap to achieve the decarbonization of the islands focusing on the promotion of electric mobility, green hydrogen and self-consumption, among other aspects. With regard to this last element, progress has been made in the possibility of creating a network of shared self-consumption in the municipalities, as explained by the Government of the Canary Islands.

With this roadmap, he added, constant coordination will be established between the two autonomous communities, which will facilitate the exchange of information on projects to be developed that help decarbonize the islands. In this regard, the Balearic Islands have set the horizon of 2050 to decarbonize their economy, while the Canary Islands aspire to achieve it in 2040.

The two autonomous communities have given an important boost to their fight against climate change with two specific laws in this area, explains the Government. In the Balearic case, this legislative project already obtained final approval in Parliament in 2019, while the Canarian law is currently in its parliamentary processing phase.

Vice President Yllanes said after the meeting that “it is important to establish this type of synergies between two fragile territories such as the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. It is an honor to be able to detail to my colleagues from the Canary Islands the work we are carrying out here in the Balearic Islands to decarbonize the territory, such as the start-up of the Lloseta green hydrogen plant. Thanks to this plant, the Balearic Islands will live a historic moment by generating, this 2021, the first hydrogen molecule in the entire State and the south of the Mediterranean. This plant will allow us to generate 300 tons of green hydrogen each year produced 100% from photovoltaic plants and will reduce CO2 emissions up to 20,700 tons per year.”

On the other hand, both Yllanes and Valbuena have insisted on the necessary involvement of the tourism sector, a vital axis in the economy of both autonomous communities. In this sense, the vice president stressed that “so that the term sustainable tourism does not become an oxymoron, we need the involvement of the entire sector in this phase of decarbonization. It is important that we bet not only on self-consumption, but also on the green hydrogen that we will generate on the island itself. From here we encourage the sector to follow in the wake of the Energy Transition and Climate Change Act, as well as the State Law and the Paris and Glasgow Agreements.”

For his part, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, stressed that since the beginning of the legislature there has been total harmony between both governments, which have held numerous meetings and have established work synergies to go hand in hand in this process of ecological transition towards a sustainable future.

“This collaboration will be key in the management of European funds, where the Balearic and Canary Islands are clear about the action plan to follow and the principle of just transition that must prevail in the distribution of these extraordinary accounts so that no sector of society is left behind in this climate fight in which we are all involved”, Valbuena added.

Finally, Valbuena called on the Government of the Balearic Islands to carry out a similar working day in the Canary Islands in the coming months, beyond the different telematic meetings that will continue to be held between both departments to finish outlining this common decarbonization strategy.

The meeting was also attended by Pep Malagrava, general director of Energy Transition and Climate Change of the Government of the Balearic Islands; Ferran Rosa, managing director of the Balearic Energy Institute (IBE); Miguel Ángel Pérez, Deputy Minister of Fight against Climate Change and Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, and Rosana Melián, General Director of Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands.

Once the working meetings were over, Vice President Yllanes and Minister Valbuena moved with their respective teams to the green hydrogen generation plant in Lloseta, which will produce the first green hydrogen molecule in the State. The Minister of the Canary Islands has learned about the current development of the project, which is already in the final phase.

Subsequently, they have moved to the CEIP Mestre Guillemet de Santa Eugènia to learn about the first public self-consumption project promoted by the Government. In this educational center, the Balearic Institute of Energy (IBE) is finalizing the start-up of the first facility that will come into operation and is promoted by the Vice Presidency and Ministry of Energy Transition, Productive Sectors and Democratic Memory. The objective is to generate clean energy to sell it at cost price to neighbors and SMEs, prioritizing vulnerable consumers.

Source: El Diario