Objective
Energy supply for the Autonomous Region of Madeira is very fragile because of the high level of dependence on the outside world. Over 80% of supplies are based on imports of oil products, the cost of which is increased further because of the geographical isolation of this small group of islands. Remaining needs are essentially guaranteed by local renewable sources (biomass and hydroelectricity). More than half of final consumption is in the residential and tertiary sectors (especially tourism) and - in spite of a high density of population (338 inhab/km2) - dwellings are widely dispersed. Because of this twofold characteristic, demand is quite specific and difficult to satisfy.
The approach is to propose action to optimise the system of production, transport and distribution of energy in the archipelago. The creation of regional know-how in energy planning will contribute to the development of a better strategy of autonomy regarding supplies.
SCENARIOS FOR THE YEAR 2000
- "High" profile: the first scenario, by far the most desirable, is based on strong hypotheses in terms of economic and demographic growth, as well as on a vigorous policy to highlight regional and REU potential. Final consumption in the year 2000 will amount to 185.000 TOE, or 213,000 toe at primary level with an oil bill of 4.2% of gross regional product (GRP).
- "Low" profile: the second scenario is based on growth and energy policy parameters that are considerably less favourable. It represents final consumption of only 1 45,000 toe (164,000 TOE at primary level) but, in this case, the oil bill will amount to 5.8% of GRP. This hypothesis reflects a rather unfavourable development with regard to exploiting local energy sources, only slight improvement in yield from energy use, and a status quo as regards the current functioning of the transport sector.
ENERGY AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
Although the energy constraints suffered by Madeira are major, thestudies carried out show that it is possible to alleviate these at least partly. One of the programmes to be developed recommends:
- the exploitation of local resources, in other words biomass and hydraulic resources, and also solar and wind power;
- REU action and technological development of the energy sector
- training action and professional retraining for the technicians concerned by energy policy.
It would also be desirable if price policy did not favour oil products so much; at the moment, these are heavily subsidised. This hardly encourages the search for less costly energy sources or diversification of these sources, or even the efficient use of local renewable energy sources.
These recommendations are compatible with regional economic development guidelines on the improvement of technical infrastructure, technical expertise, and the quality of life. They also match Madeira's medium-term Plan which recommends the efficient use of local resources, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, and increasing and diversifying energy sources.
These objectives, which fall within a much wider framework, are aimed at providing a response to three essential concerns:
- ensuring that energy policy is compatible with regional development objectives. Various possibilities of balance between energy demand and supply may be proposed to meet economic growth while ensuring they remain compatible with the capacities of the energy supply sector.
- highlighting the potentials and constraints determining the solutions that may be proposed in the context of energy planning: increasing the use of local renewable sources (biomass, hydroelectricity, solar and wind power) based not only on geographical, climatic and ecological considerations, but also on the socio-economic context.
- increasing transparency in the relations between the energy system and the regional economy, notably by underlining the impact of price disparities when choosing an energy planning process.
After a detailed characterisation of the region both physical and socio-economic - the methodological approach involved the following stages:
- an inventory of the energy situation including an analysis of developments since 1974, the preparation of the regional energy report which is broken down as much as possible for the reference year (1986), the synthesis of data available on potential renewable energy sources and REU possibilities.
- The establishment of scenarios and hypotheses. An assessment of demand prospects has been produced, on a sector and use basis, in two standard cases of economic growth and two hypotheses of demographic growth.
- Proposals for optimising the system of energy generation, processing and distribution, based on needs derived from the four cross-hypotheses of economic and demographic growth.
- Taking account of possibilities for improving energy-consuming equipment and implementing REU activities, at both macro and micro levels.
- The elaboration of configurations for the regional energy system based on the objectivesadopted for each hypothesis.
- The definition of recommendations and action programmes.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
9000 Funchal
Portugal