News

24 April 2018

Kick-off meeting in Mallorca lays strong basis for cooperation

On the 24th of April 2018, Ecorys coordinated and hosted the second stakeholder kick-off meeting in Target Region of Spain, the Balearic Islands. This was the second stakeholder meeting hosted in Spain as part of the WinWind project, following a prior kick-off meeting in the Canary Islands in November 2017.

Over a dozen stakeholders attended the meeting, both from the Balearic Islands, and the Canary islands who were connected via Skype. Following a number of introductory presentations on the project objectives and the energy situation in the Balearic Island, participants engaged actively in a roundtable debate, which shed valuable light on the wind energy situation on both Island groups. Stakeholders shared their opinions on, and encounters with, the obstacles for the promotion of wind energy on Islands. Subsequently, a preliminary discussion took place on the potential drivers and solutions of promoting the social acceptance of wind energy in the region.

The meeting was a fantastic success and starting point for further work on the wind energy situation in the Islands. Stakeholders actively engaged and contributed with important practical information to enable a better understanding of the current situation. We hope to continue this healthy dialogue in the foreseeable future.

The meeting was held in the centrally in the premises of the Balearic Islands Confederation of Business Associations in Palma de Mallorca, the administrative capital of the autonomous community. The stakeholders came from a wide variety of backgrounds, such as Balearic regional government officials (from both the Energy and Environment Departments), energy suppliers (ENDESA and ENEL), network grids (REE), researchers (Universidad Islas Baleares), engineers, business representatives and environmental organizations (Bird Conservationists & Eco Union).