Project summary
During the last decades, the EU Outermost Regions have witnessed a critical economic and demographic growth and a profound social transformation through the importation of a “thermo-industrial” development model, based on mass consumption and fossil fuels. This led to a sharp increase in energy consumption and high dependency on imported resources. In an era of climate change, global ecological crisis and geopolitical instabilities, such dependency constitutes a major source of vulnerability for these small, geographically remote and socio-economically disadvantaged regions. To address these challenges, these territories have invested massively in the development of renewable energy sources – photovoltaics, thermal solar, wind power, etc. Though many already present a higher share of renewables in their electricity mix than the EU average, the quest for self-sufficiency remains a long journey. Major energy uses, such as domestic transportation, still rely on fossil fuels and the integration of a larger share of renewables in the energy-mix raises major economic, technical and legal challenges, notably induced by the specific characteristics of their energy systems. Contrary to most mainland Europe regions and islands, the Outermost Regions constitute isolated energy systems, deprived of connection to a larger grid. Their stability thus requires a constant equilibrium between energy production and consumption, complicated by the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources. To turn these constraints into opportunities, many Outermost Regions have developed dynamic research and innovation systems and initiatives to achieve autonomy in remote areas.
To accelerate this dynamic, REMOTE brings together 7 Outermost Regions: the Azores, the Canary Islands, French Guiana, La Réunion, Madeira, Mayotte and Saint Martin on a common objective: transform their regional policy-mix and set the basis to become 100% energy self-sufficient EU regions