Times of Recession: Three Different Renewable Energy Stories from the Mediterranean Region

The utilization of renewable energy sources is considered one of the crucial strategies for sustainability and economic growth. At the same time it can be a powerful tool for achieving economic, ecological, and social benefits on a community and local level. The goal of the European energy policy, namely to increase renewable energy by targeting a 40 % share in electricity production by 2020 and also to consider a more efficient energy use has to be considered as providing an ambitious aim, at least on a national and regional level, leaving to each member state the responsibility or the way in which the aim will be achieved. Although one may argue that target is certainly ambitious, especially in the light of the economic recession troubling the Eurozone, still, one cannot fail to notice that significant progress has been made in the utilization of renewables over the past 15 years, albeit not uniformly throughout Europe. It is in a sense puzzling that the Mediterranean countries, although featuring a rich RE potential, have lost ground compared to northern European countries. This chapter aims to discuss issues encountered during RE implementation with regard to governmental policies and financial and environmental aspects of renewable energy processes which seem to slow down the RE penetration and acceptance.