These emerging leaders are on track to join Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as regional powers, which will help the Arab League achieve its collective goal of developing 80 GW of renewable energy by 2030. long. In detail, Morocco’s production will reach 14.4 gigawatts, followed by that of Algeria (10 gigawatts), while Oman will lead with a capacity of more than 15.3 gigawatts.
In the said note, taken from a research report, the American organization indicates that the renewable energy projects launched in the Arab countries will reach, when they are commissioned, 92% of the energy objectives for 2030. It notes that the region is pursuing large-scale solar and wind projects that would together increase its renewable energy capacity by 73.4 gigawatts (GW).
It should be noted that between 2000, the year from which Morocco made green energies one of its main strategic axes, and 2022, the MENA region has more than 12 GW of production capacity of large-scale solar and wind power. A production that should increase sixfold by 2030.
“Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt commissioned the first wind farms in the region in 2000. The first large-scale solar operations started in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Today, the region has more than 12.1 GW of generation capacity from these two renewable energy sources. The wind farms in operation have a capacity of 4.7 GW, while it is 7.4 GW for the large-scale solar installations in operation”, recalls the American organization.
Morocco stays the course
When it comes to renewables, the UAE leads the region in large-scale solar generation. Its large-scale solar farms generate 2.6 GW of electricity, the study says. Egypt is the region’s wind power leader, with wind farms generating 1.6 GW of electricity. Egypt’s operational wind capacity, combined with its utility-scale solar operational capacity (1.9 GW), places the country at the top of the region in combined solar and wind generation ( 3.5GW in total).
Due to its investments in utility scale solar, the UAE ranks second in the region for utility scale solar and wind, followed by Morocco (1.9 GW) and Jordan (1 .7GW). “Morocco seeks to maintain its early rise to the top of the renewable powers in its region. The 14.4 GW of large-scale solar and wind projects the country is poised to roll out over the next five years represent more than six times its potential gas investments. And to add: “According to the Global Wind Power Tracker and the Global Solar Power Tracker, Morocco will add 14 GW of solar capacity and 1.3 GW of wind capacity between 2018 and 2027, almost doubling its objective. However, around 12 GW of potential capacity is planned for export-oriented projects”.
While Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Jordan were the first countries in the region to adopt large-scale wind and solar generation, Oman, Algeria and Kuwait are looking to join this group.
Energy competitiveness of companies
Storage and export opportunities are driving development in the MENA region. In Morocco, the drop in the cost of renewable energies, in particular solar and wind power, offers a real opportunity for the energy competitiveness of companies and for the decarbonization of economies.
As a reminder, the price of the kilowatt/hour has fallen in 10 years from 3.50 MAD to less than 50 cents. The energy sector has therefore become a buoyant market and paves the way for the development of companies around renewable projects, services, in particular consulting, engineering, installation, operation and maintenance. , but also the production and manufacture of equipment.
In the MENA region, the large-scale solar and wind farm projects underway in this region are remarkable, with the average size of potential solar farms exceeding four times that of the rest of the world.
A key supplier of green hydrogen
Morocco is continuing its momentum and also aims to develop a strong industrial ecosystem around renewable energies, in particular for the manufacture of components and equipment for renewable energies as well as new sectors such as green hydrogen and its applications (Power- to-X) and sustainable mobility.
The Kingdom, which enjoys “significant” potential to develop this new energy transition sector, might start producing green hydrogen “made in Morocco” within three years. Morocco “can become a key supplier of green hydrogen” mainly for Europe, which has a great need for green hydrogen and that this production cannot be carried out in its entirety by the countries of the European Union. In this vein, European companies are already working on partnership projects with ecosystem players in Morocco.