The Government of the Azores is committed to diversify the energy production in the archipelago as a means to protect the environment and prevent the effects caused by the instability of fossil fuel prices.

The idea was reiterated by the Regional Director for Energy at the University of the Azores on Monday.

Cabral Vieira spoke at a training course on “Entrepreneurship in Energy and Climate Change – Challenges for Island Populations” (Empreendedorismo em Energia e Alterações Climáticas – Desafios para as Populações Insulares) which was organised by the Portuguese Association of Environmental Engineering with the partnership of the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea and the University of the Azores.

According to the Regional Director, energy “is a strategic and fundamental sector for the competitiveness of companies as well as for the citizens’ well-being,” thus requiring “a significant commitment to diversify energy sources, mainly from renewable sources and promote energy efficiency.”

In order to accomplish this goal, the Regional Directorate for Energy, under its powers and in compliance with the Programme of the X Regional Government of the Azores “acts in order to promote a sustainable and environmentally-friendly energy system, based on high levels of technical and scientific knowledge that ensures the supply safety and quality, and the potentialities of the endogenous resources.

In his speech, Cabral Vieira also mentioned other issues such as the goals of the regional energy policy, the measures adopted, electrical mobility, energy certification of buildings, incentive system for energy production from renewable sources, electricity microgeneration and the Green Islands project.

The new opportunities for companies and citizens, resulting from the change of the energy policies, were another issue addressed by the Regional Director.