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Sahara Wind at the Ministerial Conference Italy-Africa: Working Together for a Sustainable Energy Future on October 13-14th 2014

On the occasion of the Italian Presidency of the EU, together with the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) and in cooperation with the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a Dialogue session of the private sector working in off-grid renewable energy. The forum brought together major European and African private sector practitioners to discuss pertinent issues with regard to investing in Africa's renewable energy market. This event premiered the Africa Energy Outlook of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and a technical workshop on "How to deal with risks in the African energy sector". The conference saw the participation of main international energy institutions like IEA, IRENA, UN agencies, and global initiatives such as the UN Sustainable Energy for All.

The conference was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Piazzale della Farnesina 1, Rome, Italy. 

Sahara Wind at the European Commission's Workshop on Empowering Rural Electrification of September 29-30th 2014 in Brussels, Belgium. 

As a leader in the global drive to provide access to modern sustainable energy services the European Commission is launching a profound examination of new financial opportunities to support Rural Electrification. In a two day Workshop hosted by the EC in Brussels on 29-30 September, 2014, a variety of stakeholders had the opportunity to discuss new possibilities for providing financial support to Rural Electrification projects through a joint effort by the private sector and civil society organisations. They also shared experiences and to identify common practices. One of the objectives was to identify successful business models for an accelerated roll-outof energy access in rural communities.

The conference was organized by the Directorate General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid

The Sahara Wind Project's resource-backed inclusive access to the Atlantic Trade Winds presented at the International Energy Agency in Paris on July 02, 2014.

The presentation covered regional capacity building activities, wind measurements, green campuses, Africa’s first wind hydrogen systems and industrial synergies enhancing resource efficiencies. The project phasing and its HVDC transmission architecture was presented as well. As Morocco holds 71% of the world's phosphate reserves -a key ingredient in the fertilizer industries- the presentation focused on the initial phases of the Sahara Wind project and the decoupling of these industries from fossil fuels through the development of sustainable hydrogen production technologies. Energy transition prospects through the access of the significant trade wind resource on a regional basis were elaborated with subsequent positive effects on regional electricity markets.

Sahara Wind at the coordination center of the European CORESO electricity network, June 23, 2014

Sahara Wind took part in the 'Best Practices in European Smart Grids' Workshop. At the end of this Workshop, Khalid Benhamou of Sahara Wind visits the CORESO coordination center of the European electricity network in Brussels, Belgium

Sahara Wind at the “Overhauling Transatlantic Security Thinking” SDA conference on June 4th, 2014 in Brussels, Belgium.

The event took place in the backdrop of tensions with Russia and democratization process in North Africa with renewed conflict in Africa. During this conference, Khalid Benhamou, Managing Director of Sahara Wind reminded the audience of the importance of tackling climate refugee flows by addressing their root cause and building upstream sustainable development strategies.

At the invitation of the Greek Presidency of the European Union and in response to the common ambition of Morocco and the EU to further deepen their privileged partnership, the Sahara Wind Project is presented at the Conference on "Research and Innovation at the Service of Economy and Society in the European Neighborhood”in Thessaloniki on May 29-30, 2014.

With H.E. Abdelilah Benkirane Head of the Governement of Morocco at the  Seminar on Scientific Research and Innovation at the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco April 29th 2014.

Sahara Wind moderated at the Global Growth Conference in Rabat, Morocco on April 24 2014. The session focused on 'Energy Strategies in Africa: Stimulating growth while ensuring energy access and efficiency' was moderated by its Managing Director, Khalid Benhamou.

13th World Wind Energy Conference & Renewable Energy Exhibition (WWEC 2014)

13th World Wind Energy Conference & Renewable Energy Exhibition (WWEC 2014) was held in Shanghai, China from 7-9 April 2014. In the past 10 years, the Chinese wind power industry has achieved a record development in wind turbine installations. Deploying close to 50% of the world’s wind turbines in its domestic market during the last 4 consecutive years, China boosted its wind manufacturing base significantly. While R&D capabilities made significant progress, the Chinese wind power industry has accumulated a rich experience in wind farm construction, operations and various other aspects. Heading towards 100 GW of installed wind power capacity (one-third of the World’s total), China is currently building six Mega-Wind projects beyond the 10 GW range.

During Session 2A1 dedicated to ‘Regional and national strategies for system optimization’ Sahara Wind presented its Project under the title ‘Scaling-up the Wind Industry: Building Integrated Wind-Energy Driven Economies’ on April 8th 2014.

World Water Day 2014 brings its attention to the Water and Energy nexus. The 2014 edition demonstrates through case studies that integrated approaches and solutions to water-energy issues can achieve greater economic and social impacts. Crosscutting frameworks bridging public and private sectors in a green economy will lead to greater energy security and sustainable water use. Particular attention will be paid to identifying best practices that can make a water and energy-efficient 'Green Industry' a reality. The Sahara Wind Project is actively involved in supporting access to potable water in arid regions using renewable energies. Water treatment technologies can enhance the uptake of intermittent sources of renewable energies such as wind power in weaker grid infrastructures found on most of the African continent. Acting as a stabilizing load in a high wind penetration system, desalination as well as electrolysis generated by-products such as chlorine or hypochlorite are indispensable elements in water treatment solutions for producing clean, drinking water. Within such framework, many synergies can be applied.

An in-depth analysis of the International Energy Agency reveals that energy accounts for 15% of global water usage, and will consume ever more through 2035

The Sahara Wind project combines wind and water treatment technologies: The Sahara Wind Project

Sahara Wind at the EHEC-2014 European Hydrogen Energy Conference

As a reference framework for updates on hydrogen and fuel cell related technologies, the European Hydrogen Energy Conference was held in Seville, Spain from March 12-14 2014.

The Sahara Wind Project and ‘The role of Hydrogen from the trade winds in North Africa’s broader renewable energy transition’ was presented during the 3rd plenary session of the European Hydrogen Energy Conference EHEC 2014. The European Hydrogen Energy Conference EHEC 2014 provided a setting to present the advances in research, products and projects currently under development. During the conference, Sahara Wind presented its current project development activities, which includes the phased deployment of hydrogen technologies in North Africa. These are likely to enhance the prospects for integrated applications in the field wind energy access, leveraging the processing of the region’s minerals as well as major industrial activities.The presentation of the Sahara Wind Project during the EHEC 2014 3rd plenary session on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell opportunities in the Mediterranean area paved the way to the last plenary session focused on Generation & Storage Energy.

Sahara Wind joins the campaign to help building a global momentum toward achieving 100% RE in jurisdictions across the world.

The overall goal of the campaign is to brand 100% renewable energy and to build a global alliance for 100% renewable energy. The campaign seeks to attract governmental, non-governmental, profit and non-profit organizations from all parts of the world to support this initiative. Global 100% RE is the first global initiative that advocates 100% renewable energy. This unique campaign builds on projects that are already taking place on national, regional and local levels and steers the global discourse on renewable energy towards 100% RE as the new normal.

Many scientific studies have shown that 100% RE regionally and globally is technically possible by the year 2050, and some scientists conclude we can get there as soon as 2030. Several regions, cities and islands can achieve – indeed are achieving – this target even earlier than that. The campaign primarily aims at building a coalition of the willing for a 100% target and seeks to build an international societal momentum for setting the target in the various regions or constituencies and implement an adequate roadmap towards it.