The Minister of the Environment, Cristina Narbona, has presented the set of actions that the Ministry plans to develop within the framework of the A.G.U.A. Programme, in terms of promoting renewable energies and energy saving applied to desalination. The event was attended by the Secretary General for Territory and Biodiversity, Antonio Serrano, and the Director General of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), Enrique Jiménez.

The aim of the plan is to ensure that the energy consumed by desalination actions linked to the A.G.U.A. Programme does not involve the consumption of non-renewable energies. This is linked to the key importance of energy issues in the sustainable development model in Spain, a country that has a high degree of dependence on foreign energy supply and where there is a continuous trend towards an increase in energy consumption per unit of GDP. In this context, the Strategic Environmental Assessment regarding the Urgent Actions of the A.G.U.A Programme in the Mediterranean Arc, recommends the promotion of additional renewable energies necessary to compensate for the energy consumption associated with the desalination activity.

In accordance with this objective, the set of actions presented today is aimed at increasing the installed capacity in renewable energies over those already planned, and at generating energy consumption savings in the processes and facilities of the water sector that depend on the Ministry of the Environment. It also includes the necessary measures, administrative management and declaration of urgency of the corresponding procedures and investments, to accelerate the implementation of the actions already included in the renewable energy plans and programmes. Finally, among these actions are added those of promotion of Research and Development (R+D+i) projects in this field, which will play a relevant role in the generation of new potentialities for generating savings and the use of renewables, while helping to maintain the competitive position of the Spanish technology sector in this area.