Morocco, Egypt, S Arabia ascend in E&Y renewables index

Even though they are still far from the top 10 list, Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia all inched up in the latest Ernst & Young (E&Y) country attractiveness index for all renewables.

These three and Israel, which went down by a notch, are the only countries from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) present in the index for now. Given the hot and sunny climate, it is no surprise that the region is most attractive for concentrated solar power (CSP) projects.

The table below gives details on the MENA participants’ position in the all renewables and CSP index.

Morocco is the most attractive green energy market in MENA, according to E&Y. Several large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and CSP projects have already entered the construction phase, and there are more solar tenders coming. Also, just a few days ago, it was announced that Morocco will launch very soon a tender for the build-up of 850 MW in wind power capacity.

Egypt held a 4.3-GW renewables tender in January and later invited bids for a further 500 MW, spread across wind, PV and CSP. “Given the momentum behind the country’s renewable energy expansion since late 2014, further renewables auctions are expected going forward,” E&Y said.

Jordan and the UAE are the other MENA markets in which we have witnessed quite significant baby steps in renewable energy activity. Just last week, Hanergy Holding Group Ltd signed an official deal for 1 GW of combined wind and solar capacity in Jordan with the kingdom’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) earlier this month also officially launched a tender for the 800-MW third phase of the 3-GW Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum project.

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