After a successful first meeting in Brussels in January this year of the two-year Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence &Security Sector, the second meeting kicked-off today in Dublin, Ireland. The conference was officially opened by the Assistant Secretary General and Defence Policy Director at the Irish Department of Defence, Mr Ciaran Murphy, the EDA Chief Executive, Mr Jorge Domecq, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Mr Jim Gannon and Mr Dominique Ristori, Director General for Energy at the European Commission.
“Defence is one of the largest energy consumers in Europe. One of the key challenges is to quantify the extent of this energy usage and to assess how projects stimulated through the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector can impact on overall EU energy usage”, EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq said at the opening of the second conference. “This is a unique opportunity for change. We have the right experts gathered in the right place. The focus is on military installations and activity on European territory. The goal is to examine where improvements can be made and where assistance is required to address existing challenges”.
Whilst the first meeting in Brussels was attended by over 80 participants, primarily from European government ministries of defence and armed forces, the second conference is attended by more than 140 experts from government administrations, as well as industry, academia, NATO representatives and the European Commission, namely DG ENERGY and EASME, the Executive Agency for SMEs.
This unique Consultation Forum is actively supported by DG ENERGY and aims at progressing the work started with European Ministries of Defence and Armed Forces relating to energy management, energy efficiency in military buildings and infrastructure and the use of renewable energy systems on defence lands. The activity is now carried forward with the participation of 27 EU Member States including Denmark which shows the critical importance of energy efficiency.
Background
The Consultation Forum is a European Commission initiative managed by the European Defence Agency. It brings together experts from the defence and energy sectors to share information and best practice on improving energy management, efficiency and the use of renewable energy in the civil uses of the military. The Consultation Forum takes place in a series of five plenary meetings over two years. The work is carried out in three parallel working groups each with a particular focus: (1) Energy management, (2) Energy efficiency & 3) Renewable energy.
Picture: from left to right: Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, Chief of Staff Irish Defence Forces; Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defene Agency; Paul Kehoe Minister of State at the Department of Defence, Mr Ciaran Murphy, Assistant Secretary General and Defence Policy Director at the Irish Department of Defence, Mr Jim Gannnon, Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
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