88
involved either in the “Covenant of Mayors”
r the “Pact
of Island
p to now 16 Sustainable Energy Action Plans
have been prepared by the Cyprus Energy Agency and 8 new SEAPs are under
preparation.
The Enerscapes project can easily be connected with the actions of the Covenant
of Mayor and in particular with SEAPs. It is important to establish a constructive
dialogue and communication with the Secretariat of the Covenant of Mayors in
order to apply the methodology that was developed in the Enerscapes project
in the SEAP (Sustainable Energy Action Plans) of the Local Authorities, when an
installation of RES plant is planned or proposed, especially for large installations
or when the installations are planned near or inside sensitive, protected areas.
NER 300
is a financing instrument managed jointly by the European Commis-
sion, European Investment Bank and Member States, so-called because it con-
tains the provision to set aside 300 million allowances (rights to emit one tonne
of carbon dioxide) in the New Entrants’ Reserve of the European Emissions Trad-
ing Scheme for subsidising installations of innovative renewable energy tech-
nology and carbon capture and storage (CCS). The allowances will be sold on
the carbon market and the money raised — expected to be around 2.0 bn EUR
at current carbon prices — will be made available to projects as they operate.
The European Commission has approved over €1.2 billion to fund 23 innovative
renewable energy demonstration projects under the first call for proposals for
the NER300 funding programme. The projects cover a wide range of renewable
technologies, from bioenergy (including advanced biofuels), concentrated solar
power and geothermal power, to wind power, ocean energy and distributed
renewable management (smart grids).
The NER300 application contains a special chapter dedicated to environmental
impacts of a proposed project. The Enerscapes methodology can be useful in
