Carried out in partnership with large regional end-user groups the project initiated a far ranging, comprehensive program aimed at integrating intermittent sources of renewable energies in the weak grid infrastructure of the Saharan/Sahel region. The equipping of these platforms in Morocco and Mauritania in the first months of the program enabled field measurements to be geographically spread. Extending this cooperation to other countries in the region is currently being considered. Indeed, countries like Senegal, Mali, Niger and Chad dispose of extremely limited electric generating capacities (120MW on average) with a need to cover vast territories.The trade winds that blow along the Atlantic coast from Morocco to Senegal represent one of the largest and most productive wind potentials available on earth. Because of the erratic nature of winds however, wind electricity cannot be integrated locally on any significant scale, unless mechanisms are developed for storing these intermittent renewable energies. Wind-electrolysis for the production of hydrogen can be used in grid stabilization, as power storage, fuel or chemical feedstock in specific industries. Initiated by industry, this project is end-user driven and seeks to demonstrate the potential for synergies emerging from sustainable carbon free energy technologies and their related economies. The utilization of wind energy and electrolysis bi-products is likely to reinforce significantly the value added processing of Morocco and Mauritania’s main extractive mining industries (Phosphates and Iron-ore respectively) in providing most environmentally friendly solutions.
Tackling the global consequences of climate change, environmental degradations and rampant desertification on largely agricultural based societies currently under high demographic pressure is a key social priority, as they generate economic distress leading to mass migration. This constitutes a significant security threat to the stability of the region and that of NATO countries.
