Middle East North Africa Area To See Renewable Energy Boom
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The trade association behind the DESERTEC Concept of the same name has said that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is likely to see their renewable energy assets more than double in capacity by the end of 2015.
According to Desertec, solar and wind generation capacity will rise to 3.9 GW in 2015 from its current 1.5 GW.
The findings were reported by Bloomberg, quoting Paul van Son, chief executive officer of the Munich-based trade association.
“The demand is here,” Van Son said. “Production costs for power are lower than in Europe, where the supply-side trend is to higher cost.” He added that, when supply is developed and power grids are connected, Europe and the MENA region will “constitute a single, linked power market.”
The Middle East region and the whole of Africa have recently begun to come into their own when it comes to renewable energy development, thanks in large part to a desperate need for widespread energy deployment. Countries like China and the US, as well as several countries within Europe, have looked to Africa as a new sales locale for solar PV technology, which has benefited the continent greatly.
As these region’s populations grow, local governments are looking to clean energy as a more economically efficient means of meeting the energy demand. As Bloomberg note, this also allows fossil-fuel rich countries to focus on exporting.
Accordingly, Desertec is developing a $30 million fund to promote start-up generation throughout MENA, said Van Son.
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