[Graeme]

Renewables in North Africa: A Nation-By-Nation Report Card

Electricity demand is soaring in Northern Africa nations (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) due to economic development, rising living standards, and other factors, but the existing power infrastructure is severely inadequate to handle it. Supply is plunging because of spiking demand in hot summers, threadbare infrastructure, political instability (especially since the 2011 Arab Spring), financing restrictions, and inadequate regulatory frameworks. Even so, power generation projects and structural reforms to support them are pushing forward in this region — and in many cases renewable energy is the best solution, particularly tapping into solar and wind resources, according to recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan.

Total power installed capacity in the North Africa region was roughly 61.6 GW in 2012, with renewable energy (mostly hydro) accounting for nearly 10 percent of that (6 GW). Total installed power capacity likely will double by 2020 to 120 GW. Four of the five nations rely heavily on natural gas (Morocco, with few resource options, mainly uses coal), and likely will continue to do so through the end of this decade — but all of them have lofty ambitions for developing renewable energy to offset acute power shortages especially in summer months, according to Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Celine Paton, author of the report Power Infrastructure Tracker in Northern Africa.

Each of these nations has a significant pipeline of power capacity projects, including ambitions for a lot more renewable energy, but when and how those plans materialize depends greatly on government stability and reforms both economic and regulatory — i.e. formation of independent electricity bodies and addressing electricity subsidies for conventional fossil fuel generation.

Here's a nation-by-nation summary of renewable energy drawing boards in Northern Africa:

renewableenergyworld

[El_Producto]

Cool article...Morocco seems like an interesting case, shooting for 42% electricity from renewables, that's gotta be a record for a country of that size.

[Graeme]

On Green Energy, Ethiopia Leaves U.S. in the Dust

President Obama’s state visit to Kenya and Ethiopia has involved a good deal of scolding of those countries by Western pundits. On some matters, the chiding should go in the other direction. On the issues of green energy and climate change, Ethiopia has announced initiatives that put the United States to shame.

The U.S. commits an annual crime against the earth by emitting 5.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, whereas these African countries live cleanly in this regard. They are intent on growing economically in an environmentally friendly way. On the most important environmental and economic issue of our day, the U.S. is an unrepentant and even bullying fossil-fuel dinosaur, whereas young Africa is awakening to the benefits of renewable energy.

The spotlight of the American corporate press during President Obama’s visit to Ethiopia has been on the gamut of issues, ranging from terrorism to the civil war in South Sudan to the Addis Ababa government’s wretched persecution of bloggers. While these are legitimate concerns, a more balanced approach would admit that Ethiopia is getting something right that the U.S. is getting very badly wrong. The average American is responsible for emitting on the order of 16 metric tons of CO2 annually, whereas each of the 94 million Ethiopians produces only about a tenth of a ton. The government intends to slash even those emissions by two-thirds over the next 15 years, the most ambitious goal set by any country in the world.

truthdig