Potentials and systemic aspects for the integration of renewable energies in the North African and Middle Eastern electricity system

The electricity economies in North Africa and in the Middle East are currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels. As these countries have also signed the Paris Climate Agreement, plans to move towards renewable energies are already in place. In some of these countries the destruction of power infrastructure due to civil war and hostilities leads to other major challenges. Not only are there large investments needed to restore the electricity infrastructure to offer a reliable power supply without daily outages as is common in some areas, but also the costs of developing a power plant fleet towards the use of renewable energies has to be considered. Initiatives to support the development of the African continent like the African-EU-Partnership (AEEP) or the CIGRE World Bank joint initiative for ‘Africa’ could help these countries in using their excessive wind and solar potentials.