MENA Region

This Final Report is the deliverable of Work Package (WP1) from the MED-CSD Project. Designed to assess combined solar power and desalination plants’ technico-economic potential in Mediterranean Partner countries, it was a project funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7). It ran between June 2008 and June 2010.

A study published in 2007 by the Global Energy Network Institute (GENI) presents the potential and advantages of using renewable energies by the MENA countries. It also pinpoints the drawbacks connected to the nuclear energy option.

It describes the benefits stemming from the use of solar energy, underlining the potential to offer solutions at both national and local level: job creation, better solutions for heating and cooling systems, water desalinization, little land use, etc. The topic of grid interconnectivity (both AC and HVDC) also falls under the scope of this research.

This document produced by the law firm Freshfields provides a rich overview of the use of renewable energy sources in the Middle East and North Africa region, also known as MENA region. It includes country briefings on Saudi Arabia, UAE, Dubai, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and North Africa.

Dr. Nikolaus Benz Vice President of ESTELA (European Solar Thermal Electricity Association) gave this presentation at the EUROMED 2008 Solar Workshop.

This is a very informative presentation about concentrated solar power technologies. The slides explain de differences between a power tower, parabolic trough, linear Fresnel and a dish stirling.

A map pointing out the current markets is also provided, together with more specific information on the projects ongoing in Spain and also on the MENA region.

This presentation was made by Jürgen Kern from the company kernenergien, during the Euromed Solar Workshop on EU-MENA Cooperation on Solar Power, in Jordan, 2008.

The presentation includes information and data on the expected power demand in the MENA and Southern Europe region, the water demand by sector, the technologies available and the potential for renewable electricity in the area.

The REMAP Project (Action Plan for High Priority Renewable Energy Initiatives in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Area) is a two years initiative funded under the European Commission FP6 with the goal of investigating two electricity generation technologies: wind power and concentrated solar power, in nine European and Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Jordan, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey).

This document is one of the deliverables of the Solarterm Project. The project, funded by the European Commission 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, gathers 18 partners including eight southern Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Syria, Tunisia) and the five EU countries (Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Malta and Spain). The objective of the project is to boost the use of solar thermal and cooling systems in the southern Mediterranean countries.

This presentation prepared by Mr Paul van Son from Dii (Desertec Industrial Initiative) outlines the main objectives to the Desertec project and the timeline established to achieve the main goal of covering a substantial part of the MENA electricity demand and 15% of the European demand by 2050.

The Desertec Consortium, made of 12 companies from Germany, Spain and Algeria, was set-up in 2009. The project is based on three key technologies: CSP, photovoltaics and wind power.

The authors of this 2008 paper aim to demonstrate the importance concentrating solar power has for desalination of freshwater. Due to the projected growth in economy and population and the anticipated increase in future water consumption in the MENA region, the paper shows that the CSP technology has the potential to provide a solution for the growing water deficits.