Renewable energy: Huge development potential in the Middle East and North Africa | Umweltbundesamt

Some 500 experts from politics, finance and the renewable energy sectors are meeting in Marrakesh from 15 to 16 May 2012 to explore options and means to advancing the use of renewable energy in North Africa and the Middle East. It is the fifth conference of its kind. Since the first MENAREC Conference in 2004, which served to prepare the region for the first international conference, “Renewables 2004“ in Bonn, MENAREC has become a successful forum of collaboration among Arab nations and with Germany on the development of renewable energy in the Mediterranean countries.

The issues at the focus of this conference are how to speed up the development of renewable energy in the North Africa, the experience gained in Europe through its own development of renewable energy, which approaches to promoting and financing of projects exist, and how renewable energy can be integrated into the existing local economic sectors (agriculture, tourism, industry, and water supply).

The goal of developing renewable energy in North Africa already resulted in the foundation in 2009 of a consortium known as DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII), whose members are from industry and finance (desert electricity project).This industrial initiative aims to develop a sound basis for investment through feasibility studies on the potential and technology needed to supply solar energy to both North Africa and Europe. In addition, Germany will further develop its energy partnerships with Tunisia and Morocco. These partnerships focus on issues of solar power use, power grid development and cooperation in development.