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Can farmers help Mallorca go green
20% of Europe's energy should be green by 2020 and farmers may be able to help
The Mallorcan government is looking into the possibility of fitting photovoltaic cells to the roofs of farm buildings in a bid to help move Mallorca towards the European Union's renewable energy target of 20% all power should be clean by 2020.
The legislation was passed in December 2008 and stated that all countries in Europe must be producing one fifth of their energy from clean sources by 2020. At the moment the Balearics only produce 1.4% of their energy from renewable sources and generates only 52 megawatts from photovoltaic cells, by contrast the Canaries generate 112 megawatts from solar power.
At the moment Mallorca receives some of it's renewable energy from the Spanish mainland through an "electricity highway" laid in the Mediterranean.
The CEO of energy, Jaume Ochogavia, has explained that in order for for Mallorca to meet the 2020 targets using photovoltaic panels an area of 11.6 square kilometres would have to be covered. The idea is to use the roofs of agricultural buildings to help towards this target. The farmers could power their farms using solar energy and supply surplus energy to the power network.
The idea is still in it's infancy and seems, at this stage, unlikely to work as the farmers are being asked to give the surplus energy to the national grid for free. Whatever happens it seems like using the sun is Mallorca's best option for producing clean energy but doing so isn't going to be simple.
