The Regional Government wishes to convey its satisfaction for the fact that the meeting of the operational committee of the Programme Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Portugal took place in the Azores, given that, in strategic terms, this is a very important initiative for the Region.

The President himself said it after meeting with Paulo Ferrão and Stephen Connors, directors of the Programme MIT-Portugal. He and his guests talked about the nuances of future cooperation, especially matters pertaining to the “Green Island” project, the aim of which is to develop the use of sustainable energies in the Azores.

Carlos César indicated that the final objective is that of securing total energy autonomy for the island of São Miguel through the use of renewable energies and other endogenous energy resources as well as fomenting, on Flores Island, the utilisation of these sources of energy.

The President reminded that significant steps had already been taken to assure the financing and preparation of partnerships that confer sustainability to this project of cooperation.  He said that “our ambition is to provide our regional electrical system with full access to these renewable energies.”

Carlos César said that given the fact that the electrical system is responsible for more than 40% of energy consumption in the Azores - to which we can add 34% used by the transport system - “we should concentrate our attention on the contributions of renewable energy sources to the overall supply and know that such contributions will increase.”
Therefore, the Regional Government values the MIT-Portugal project of cooperation. It provides support to intervening institutions and seeks to stimulate and attract the participation of private investors and scientific research centres. 

The President of the Regional Government of the Azores said that “we have institutions in our region that are directly involved in such renewable energy projects, such as the Empresa de Electricidade dos Açores (Azores Electricity Company or EDA) and the Universidade dos Açores (University of the Azores) (…) He added that “we can help the electricity company and the university be indispensable actors in the realisation of this project.”