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Sahara Wind at the European Union / Union for the Mediterranean: A common energy future

Organized jointly by Medgrid and the European Parliament, the objective of the EURO-MEDITERRANEAN – RENDEZ-VOUS on ENERGY was to Promote and impulse the development of the electric interconnections between Europe and countries of the South and East of the Mediterranean countries. The conference supported interconnection projects in the Mediterranean and was a major Forum for the key players of these projects.

This conference took place on Thursday April 11th, 2013  at the European Parliament, in Brussels. It was held under the high patronage of Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.

This Euro-Mediterranean rendez-vous presented the socioeconomic context and the political stakes in the energy cooperation between the European Union and the countries of the South and the East of the Mediterranean Sea, by putting in perspective the projects of Mediterranean electric interconnections.

The Sahara Wind project presented at the Power Industry North Africa 2013 conference

The event highlighted key power sector issues impacting Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. These countries have seen major planned developments in renewable, solar, wind energy as well as natural gas-fired generating capacity in recent years, due to increased demands.

Local and international power industry experts, government bodies and associations converged at this year's event to discuss major planned developments in solar, wind, natural gas-fired generating capacity and renewable energy.

The Sahara Wind project presented at Wind Power North Africa in Casablanca, Morocco on 27-28 November 2012

Wind Power North Africa provided a key opportunity for the wind industry to meet. With a focus on Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia Wind Power North Africa explored policy frameworks and the next steps for scaling up the region’s wind power market. North Africa boasts exceptional wind conditions – particularly along Morocco’s Atlantic coast and along the Red Sea. Morocco drives plans to have 2GW of wind capacity by 2016, Egypt targets 7.2GW of wind energy by 2020 and Tunisia recently doubled its installed wind capacity with a target of 505MW by 2016.

Sahara Wind at the IPHE Renewable Hydrogen Workshop “A competitive Energy Storage Medium for large scale integration of renewable electricity” in Seville Spain | 15-16 November 2012.

Sahara Winds regional capacity building activities amongsts which Africa's First Wind Hydrogen Energy System as part of Al Akhawayn University’s Green Campus presented by the Pure Energy Centre. 

The Sahara Wind project presented at the 7th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition bcc Berlin Congress Center, November 12-14, 2012

IRES has developed into a central platform for sharing knowledge and exchanging ideas by professionals from the energy storage world on one of the key issues of future energy supply. EUROSOLAR and the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE) continues the IRES series in 2012 in cooperation with EnergyAgency NRW. IRES 2012 attracted attendance from more than 40 countries with 600 attendees, repeating the success of previous years.

The conference proceedings are online since December 10, 2012. This information is accessible for all IRES 2012 attendees.

Sahara Wind at the FoE Energy Summit "A new EU energy policy for the 21st century” on November 6th 2012, in Brussels, Belgium.

Opening the Energy Summit 2012, Giles Merritt, Friends of Europe’s Secretary General mentioned that although feasible, the EU’s 20/20/20 targets rely on conjectural factors. Beyond his remarks, the European Commission’s Energy Roadmap seeks to reduce emissions by 85% by 2050, through a big range of possibilities, with rates of renewable energy ranging from 49% to 86% of total electricity production. Europe’s energy system is subject to a significant, structural transformation due to the transition to a green, low-carbon, resource efficient economy. By 2025, one million jobs will be created in renewables and energy efficiency alone.

Africa’s First Wind-Hydrogen System Launched

The First African initiative to make hydrogen from water using green energy has been successfully installed in Morocco. Unst, Shetland, United Kingdom, October 2, 2012 - (PressReleasePoint) -

The Pure Energy^® Centre, the UK pure^® fuel, renewable energy and energy storage company in collaboration with Sahara Wind Inc. and Al Akhawayn University in Morocco announce the completion of Africa’s First Wind Hydrogen System. The hydrogen system has been installed to enable the storage of excess wind energy. The installed system demonstrates that the intermittency of the wind and excess production can be resolved.

Sahara Wind Inc. of Morocco, has coordinated the installation of a wind farm consisting of three wind turbines at Al Akhawayn University , one of Morocco’s top Universities. The installation of the wind turbines meant that green energy could be used around the University campus. However, it was found that there were times where there would be excess energy produced from the wind turbines. A good example of such excess is when the wind turbines generate power at night. In this case, there would be very little load demand on the campus and the wind turbine needed to be shut down. This is why the Pure Energy^® Centre was commissioned to design and install a hydrogen energy storage system. The stored energy could then be re-used at a later stage when no wind generation was available through different hydrogen applications.

Sahara Wind at the Rabat Energy Forum

The Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Energy Charter Secretariat held an international conference in Rabat on 20-21 September 2012 on the topic "Creating a Competitive Integrated Regional Energy Market in the MENA Region: the Contribution of the Energy Charter ".

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region accounts for about 57% of the world's proven oil reserves and 41% of proven natural gas reserves, according to the World Bank. At the same time, the region has enormous solar energy potential. Population growth, rapid urbanisation and economic development are putting pressure on the existing infrastructure. Over the next 30 years, the total investment needs of the MENA region energy sector are estimated at over US$ 30 billion a year, or about 3% of the region's total projected GDP.

Morocco is the largest energy importer in Northern Africa. It is one of the Maghreb electricity interconnection countries, it is also a transit country for Algerian gas exports to Spain and an active participant in the Mediterranean Solar Plan. The country's legislation framework is very attractive for foreign direct investments. Its institutional system already includes the Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN), the Development Agency for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. An independent regulator for natural gas and electricity is currently being established.

The Sahara Wind Project presented at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory headquarters during a dedicated Seminar in Golden, Colorado on July 5th, 2012.

During this event Khalid Benhamou Managing Director of Sahara Wind presented regional capacity building activities carried out with institutions of Morocco and Mauritania to facilitate the access to wind technologies. These include amongst others a regional wind monitoring network established with the help of the region’s telecom operators as well as Africa’s first wind-hydrogen systems delivered to universities in both countries.

While visiting the TPI Composites plant in Newton, Iowa on May 24th 2012, President Obama presented the efforts made by his administration to support green manufacturing jobs.  A few months before, on April 6th 2011, President Obama addressed the employees of a GAMESA Plant -a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer- established in Fair Hills, Pennsylvania. During an unprecedented Question & Answer session held with the workers of the plant, President Obama highlighted the importance of creating local manufacturing capacities in the wind energy sector. These could spur green technology developments and exports to world markets and regions which currently lack the size and/or capacities for integrating a green energy industry locally. The United States being one of the largest single energy consuming markets in the world means that a green energy economy stands good chances of thriving. The importance of establishing domestic manufacturing capacities to support the local integration and phased deployment of the Sahara Wind Project is a key element to be taken into consideration for the region. Collaboration on broader capacity building programs and policies aimed at establishing a local wind turbine manufacturing industry represents one of our main objectives.

The video and full transcript of the President’s speech of April 6th 2011, as well as the Video of May 24th 2012 are no longer accessible.

Sahara Wind at the 5th Middle East and North Africa Renewable Energy Conference (MENAREC 5)

The "Middle-East and North Africa Renewable Energy Conference» (MENAREC) was organized by a country of the MENA region in partnership with the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) since 2004.

The Sahara Wind project presented at the 5^th IPWE Conference, January 4-7, 2012 in Marrakech, Morocco

The 5th International Perspective on Water Resources & the Environment Conference (IPWE 2012) is organized by the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The event covers a range of issues from Water Supply, Sustainability, and Sanitation to Regional Case Studies (Specific to Africa and Arab Regions). During the event, regional capacity building activities of the Sahara Wind project in Morocco and Mauritania were presented under “Production of Drinking Water in Arid Regions using Renewable Energies”.