Ongoing projects in Africa

The Desertec vision
By far the most ambitious renewable energy project in Africa is also the most nebulous. The Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) hopes to oversee the construction of a massive transmission grid between North Africa and Southern Europe that would allow Europe to source up to 20% of its electricity from wind, PV and solar thermal schemes in North Africa.

Several key participants, including Bosch and Siemens, have pulled out of the venture recently, partly because of a lack of progress but also as a result of instability in North Africa. However, the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), which is the world’s biggest power company, has now joined Dii in the form of its China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) offshoot.

The vice president of CEPRI, Liang Zhong Yao, said: “We regard Dii as a unique alliance with a strong reputation for the integration of renewable energy from the deserts into interconnected power systems. One of the strategic focus areas of SGCC is the global allocation of renewable energy. In this framework, SGCC is very keen to find options for contributing effectively to future transmission extension projects connecting countries and continents.”

Morocco’s enthusiasm for renewables appears to stem from its position as the only North African country without significant oil and gas production. It relies on the import of expensive oil and gas feedstock to satisfy most of its energy needs, yet has some of the best solar and wind power resources on the continent. Four solar thermal power plants are being constructed in the country. The biggest is a 500 MW solar park that is being developed by a consortium led by Saudi firm ACWA.

The construction of the first 160 MW parabolic trough plant, which will have three hours of thermal storage, is already well under way and is expected to come on stream by 2015. Tenders for the Ouarzazate solar-power complex have been launched by the state-owned Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN): one for 100 MW capacity CSP tower project; and another for a 200 MW CSP parabolic trough.

Rabat originally set a target of boosting the proportion of renewables in the production mix to 10% by 2020 but the success of the first projects has seen this goal steadily increased and it now stands at an incredible 42% by 2020: by far the most ambitious renewables target on the African continent.