Big investments for renewables in the MENA region
Clean energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are currently estimated to require $200 billion of investment. According to a new report, released by the business intelligence service Meed – "Renewable Energy in the Mena Region 2017", there are around 67GW of clean energy projects at various stages of development in the region. This is expected to increase further in the next 5 years as programs are implemented to meet the growing demand for power. The study examines 12 countries, which despite a historical lack of clean energy projects, now almost all have some form of renewable energy targets. The implementation of auctions for wind and solar energy projects in a number of countries in the region, including Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has resulted in some of the cheapest bidding prices globally.
The Solar Power in the region is becoming of age. This month, the construction was announced of the Midelt Phase I Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project in Morocco, as part of the NOOR multi-site and multi-technology solar power project. The project will consist of two separate Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, each with 150-190 MW CSP capacity and a minimum of five hours of thermal storage. The total capacity of this first phase is 600-800 MW. Last month, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) announced bids for the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park, a 200-megawatt CSP plant. In the first quarter of this year, Egypt secured a future 400MW of solar power through a 25-year power purchase agreement with several partners.
The wind energy sector is also set to take off in the region, with a projected 40 GW of new capacity to be installed from 2017 to 2026. According to the recently published 2017 Middle East and Africa Wind Power Outlook, this anticipated growth will be fuelled by growing power demand, falling costs and and improved application of best practices across the value chain. Installed capacity in the Middle East presently accounts for around 8.7 per cent of the region’s total cumulative capacity – with 369 MW installed, primarily in Jordan and Iran.
Resources: CSP bid in MENA region | Further reading solar power | Further reading wind power |