DUBAI — The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is embarking on an unprecedented program to develop renewable energy, with more than 67GW of clean energy projects at various stages of the design and study stage, according to Renewable Energy in the Mena Region 2017, a new report from business intelligence service MEED.
MEED estimates that this will require investment upwards of $200 billion, in addition to the expansion and upgrading of existing networks to facilitate the extra capacity.
The pipeline of renewable energy projects will increase further in the next five years as governments seek to meet the rapidly growing demand for power through implementing ambitious renewable energy programs.
Unsurprisingly due to the region’s significant hydrocarbon reserves, the Middle East has been slow to adopt renewable energy. However, this has started to change significantly over the past five years. In 2013, the UAE emirate of Abu Dhabi commissioned the region’s first utility scale solar plant, 100MW Shams 1 concentrated solar power (CSP) plant. Since then, the dramatic fall in the cost of photovoltaic (PV) solar has resulted in regional utilities launching some of the world’s largest solar projects, which have been supported by the submission of record low tariffs.
In the 12 countries covered in-depth by the report, total installed generating capacity in 2015 was 271,761MW, with just over 7 per cent of this coming from renewable energy capacity. However, the vast majority of this capacity is hydropower, with only Morocco in North Africa and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in UAE having commissioned solar projects with capacities greater than 100MW.
This is set to change significantly in the coming years, with the record-low tariffs being achieved for utility-scale renewables projects throughout the region changing the perceptions of governments and utilities towards renewable energy. From almost an absence of renewable energy 10 years ago, almost all of the 12 countries analyzed in the report have some form of renewable energy targets. — SG
