March, 2007 - Arab countries are blessed with a huge availability of both conventional and renewable resources of energy (RE). However the conventional sources will not last forever and have proven to be one of the causes of our environmental problems. It is clear therefore that in due time RE will play a substantial role in the world energy system, due to its inherent advantages such as mitigation of climate change, generation of employment and reduction of poverty, as well as increased energy security and supply.Several renewable energy technologies and applications are of relevance to countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, local and country-specific conditions including the availability of renewable energy resources, cost of conventional energy, capital cost of equipment, institutional availability and capability as well as other factors, influence the commercial viability of renewable energy technologies. In this paper the institutional framework and activities will discussed in detail.
Renewable Energy applications & potential in MENA countries

Solar Energy
Energy from the sun travels to the earth in the form of electromagnetic radiation similar to radio waves, but in a different range. On a clear day, the amount of solar radiation available at the earths surface in the direction of the sun is typically 1,000 W/m. At any particular time, the available solar energy is primarily dependent upon how high the sun is in the sky and the current cloud condition. There are many ways that solar energy can be used effectively. Applications of solar energy can be grouped into three primary categories, thermal applications, electricity production, and chemical processes. The most widely used applications are for water heating. Up take of electricity production, solar technologies are increasing for the application of photovoltaic and solar thermal electric generation technologies. The potential of solar energy resources is excellent in all MENA countries with an annual global solar radiation varying between 4 to 8 kWh/m. The region also enjoys high direct normal radiation and low average cloud cover.Producing electricity from both concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) has a good potential due to the fact that the incident solar radiation throughout the MENA region is higher than the required value.Although CSP is possible at lower values, a threshold of 1800 kWh/m of annual direct normal irradiance (DNI) was assumed to define the overall technical potential of CSP. The economic potential was considered to be limited by a DNI of 2,000 kWh/m / year.This is adequate threshold to achieve in the medium term solar electricity costs that are competitive with conventional and other renewable energy sources for power generation. All MENA countries are qualified to this technology. They have DNI of greater than 2000 kWh/m /year.The global irradiation on surfaces in MENA countries is above 1800 kWh/m /year which is the value required for PV systems to operate efficiently. PV is currently the most competitive against traditional fossil fuel power generation in the case of small, isolated, and dispersed off-grid communities and applications.

Wind Energy
Wind energy is currently the lowest cost type of renewable energy technology. The economics of wind energy has improved dramatically in the past few years, such that in many developed countries today, wind energy is now the least expensive option among all energy technologies. Several MENA countries such as Oman, Egypt, and Morocco have good wind energy resources (wind velocity range between 8-11 m/sec.).
Areas with annual full load hours over 1400 h/year are considered as having long-term economic potential. All MENA countries have good potential especially Oman, Egypt and Morocco.

Energy from wind is directly related to the wind speed. In fact, the power density of wind goes up with the cubic value of wind speed. The higher wind speed is, the more electricity will be produced per wind turbine, and hence the cost of energy per kWh goes down.

Biomass Energy
Bio-energy is produced by the release of stored chemical energy contained in fuels made from biomass. Biomass is actually a product of solar energy that has been stored by the photosynthetic activity of plants. The plants remove CO from the atmosphere and combine it with water to grow. Biomass is in many common waste products, such as, agricultural waste, forest waste, municipal waste, and food processing waste.
Biomass energy is used widely in direct cooking in rural areas of MENA countries. Due to the semi-arid nature of MENA countries and the small amount of forest and agriculture residues, the biomass potential for MENA countries is available only from municipal waste.

Hydro electric energy
Hydro electric energy is a renewable source dependent upon the hydrologic cycle of water, which involves evaporation, precipitation, and the flow of water due to gravity.
The main components of a hydro electric facility are the dam, the powerhouse that contains the mechanical and electrical equipment, and the water ways. Water from a lake or river is controlled by a dam. Water is released from the dam to turn turbines, which drive generators that produce electricity.
Small scale hydro electric facilities can be developed to provide electricity for a few houses or for small commercial applications. Small scale facilities can be built at relatively low costs.Several countries in MENA region particularly, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria have hydro resources. The potential of some of these countries are much higher than the power generated by this source.

Geothermal energy uses steam or hot water in the earth's crust to power turbines or to heat water. The earth's crust contains a large amount of energy, with the energy that flows from a volcano a vivid example of the energy in the earth's crust.
Earth energy uses the temperature found in earth or below water to cool or heat air and water for buildings. For example a heat pump can extract heat from underneath the ground to heat a building. In summer, the heat pump can be reversed to provide air-conditioning by moving hot air out of the building and down to the earth. Geothermal resources are very limited in the MENA region, and geological explorations have not yet been completed. Only a few sites of potential resources have been identified in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

Renewable Energy Institutional Structure in MENA CountriesRegional & International Institutions
Several regional and international organizations are playing active roles in promoting and catalyzing renewable energy utilization in MENA region. They are:
- United Nations Economic & Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).
- United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
- United Nations Environment Programme, Regional Office for West Asia (UNEP/ROWA).
- United Nations Environmental Programme, Regional Office for Africa (UNEP/ROA).
- UNDP representatives in all MENA countries.
- African Union.
- World Bank.
- Global Environment Facility (GEF).
- Cooperation Council for Arab States of the Gulf (GCC).
- Arab League Educational, Cultural & Scientific Organization (ALECSO).
- Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development.
- Islamic Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization (ISESCO).
- Mediterranean Renewable Energy Center (MEDREC).
- Mediterranean Association of National Agencies for Energy Conservation (MEDENER).
- Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Program (METAP).
- Center for Environment & Development for the Arab Region & Europe (CEDARE).
- Trans Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC).
- The Euro-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation.Activities of Some of these Organizations who play key roles in promoting RE utilizationESCWA
Activities
- Promoting studies on RE technologies.
- Developing and providing advisory services.
- Formulating regional and sub-regional projects proposals.
- Implementing field projects.
- Organizing expert group meetings and training seminars.Major Achievements
- Implementing a series of studies and expert group meetings.
- Development of a regional RE promoting mechanism (PREPM) with the objective of fostering intra and international cooperation for the development and commercialization of RE technologies.

UNEP/ROWA
Activities
- Preparing an overview about RE in the Middle East and North African region for MENAREC conference.
- Promoting technically capable and economically favorable RE in MENA region.
- Advocating clean energy and clean fuel technologies.
- Promoting energy efficiency at the supply and demand sides.
- Catalyzing energy resources diversification including RE.

Achievements:
- Development of a report on energy for sustainable development in the West Asia region.
- Development of a comprehensive study on the current status of renewable energies in the Middle East-North Africa countries.

ALECSO
Activities:
- Studying Arab potentials in RE in the fields of research, applications, specified framework and equipment.
- Possibility of integrating the traditional energy cycle with renewable energy through joint Arab projects.Achievements:
- Expanded technical skills through training programs, technical meetings, field trips, and exchange visits between Arab centers to exchange experience.
- Forming a permanent committee comprising directors of RE centers in the Arab countries in 1982. The committee had seven meetings in different Arab countries.
- Setting standards for a number of items of RE equipment.
- Implemented several projects such as:
- Solar water pumping project in Jordan.
- Solar dryer project in Sudan.
- Made five teaching packages in RE technology about: solar thermal, PV, Biomass, wind and training and teaching in RE.International & Regional Funding Organizations
- World Bank
- Global Environment Facility (GEF)
- Arab Fund for Economic & Social DevelopmentWorld Bank
- Financing solar water heating project in Tunis (1994-2004).
- Proposed solar based thermal power plant project in Morocco.GEF
- Finance of climate change project.
- Proposal to finance projects in the international action program of the renewable 2004.
- Finance data structural analysis projects on RE market, policies and use in developing countries.Arab Fund
- 62.2% of funding was given to loans connected with electricity projects.
- No information about RE projects.

National Institutions All the national institutions in MENA countries are facing a large number of constraints and obstacles due to inadequacy in:
- Financial mechanisms.
- Proper institutional structure and mandate.
- Clear national strategies and policies.
- Suitable educational and public awareness programs.
- National Agency for Promotion, Rationalization and Utilization of Energy (PRUE).
- New Energy Algeria (NEAL)." Bahrain Center for Studies & Research (BCSR)" Organization for Energy Conservation and Planning (OEP).
- New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA).
- Academy of Scientific Research & Technology (ASRT).
- National Research Center (NRC).
- Housing & Building Center (HBRC).
- Egyptian Solar Energy Society (ESES)." Energy & Environment Research Center." National Energy Research Center." Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR)." Lebanese Association for Energy Control & Environment (ALMEE).
- National Renewable Energy Research Center (NREC)." Center for Solar Energy Studies (CSES).
- International Energy Foundation (IEF)." Center for Development of Renewable Energies (CDER).
- National Center of Scientific & Technical Research." Palestine Energy & Environment Research Center (PEC).
- Energy Research Center (ERC)." Scientific & Applied Research Center." King Abdul Aziz City for Science & Technology (KACST) - Energy Research Institute.
- National Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP).
- Islamic Foundation for Science, Technology & Development (IFSTAD).
- King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) - Research Institute." Renewable Energy Office (REO).
- Scientific Studies & Research Center (SSRC).
- Atomic Energy Commission (AECS).
- Syrian Arab Organization for Standardization & Measurement." The National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME).
- National Agency of Renewable Energy Sources (NARES).
- National Institute of Scientific & Technical Research (NISTR)." Emirates Center for Strategic Studies & Research (ECSSR).
- Department of Renewable Energy." Solar Energy Center/University of Science & Technology, Sana'a.
- Science & Technology Center/Aden University.

Current Renewable Energy Activities in MENA Countries

In spite of the high potential of renewable energy resources availability (solar, wind, biomass and hydro) in the MENA region, only small portions of these resources are exploited at present. However, excluding biomass and hydro, renewable energies are negligible and represent less than 0.1% of the total energy supply and less than 0.3% of the electric power capacity. The current situation of each country are as follows:

- In Algeria, renewable energy resources accounted for about 0.1 Mtoe in 2003. This represent 0.3% of the total energy supply. It includes basically biomass wood and hydro. Concerning solar water heaters, the installed capacity is only 1000m. Total renewable energy generated power capacity reached 276 MW, 1MW from PV, 10 MW from wind and the rest (96%) from hydro resource.

- In Egypt, renewable energy resources represent 11% of total energy supply in 2003. This may seems high, but if we exclude hydro and biomass wood, other renewable energies represent 0.1% of total energy supply. Solar water heating is currently used in residential, commercial and tourist hotels buildings with varying degrees of success. More than 500,000m of solar collectors have been installed so far. The total renewable energy generated power reached 2,929 MW (in 2003), 94% of which being large hydro. The rest is composed of 145 MW from wind, 36 MW from biomass, and 3 MW from PV. The renewable energy generated power represents 17.5% of the total electricity installed capacity and the renewable energy power generation was 13.2 TWh, representing about 15% of the total electricity generation.

- In Iraq, several R&D demonstration projects were implemented during the period 1982-1990. Among these are the solar air-conditioning of the Energy and Environment Research Center (120 tons capacity), solar air-conditioning of a house (10 tons), 24 kWp of PV for a vertical drainage pump, 7 kWp PV for drinking water pump, manufacturing of 200 solar heaters, solar heating of plastic houses and several small PV installations for communications and cathodic protection. Iraq also started assembling PV modules in 1987 in cooperation, with Siemens Company, with a planned production capacity of 300 kWp per year. The current activities of Iraq in renewable energy field is limited only to hydro power. The actual share of electricity produced from hydropower respect only 2.04% of the total power generated

- In Jordan, more than 200,000 solar water heaters, 7 MW of hydro power (represent 0.68% of total electricity capacity), 1MW of pilot plant biomass (from municipal waste disposal) electricity generation are currently in operation. In addition to that 100 kWp of PV systems, twelve wind turbines projects with a total capacity of 1620 kW were demonstrated in many remote applications.

- In Bahrain, two R&D research projects were implemented by the Energy Research Center (the center is not existing now), one was a mobile solar powered Reverse Osmosis desalination unit with a capacity of 200 gallons per day, while the other is a solar & wind power mobile generator with a capacity of 1.5 kW.

- In Saudi Arabia, numerous R&D demonstration projects were conducted by the American-Saudi cooperation program (SOLERAS) during the last two decades of the previous century in the areas of solar cooling, solar desalination, solar thermal electricity and photovoltaic. Among these projects are 50 kW of solar thermal electricity & 400 kWp total of PV systems. Saudi is currently concentrating on energy efficiency and energy management.

- In Kuwait, R&D renewable energy demonstration projects in solar pond, passive heating and cooling and PV were implemented before the Gulf War 1990. Kuwait now limits the work to energy efficiency and energy management.

- In Lebanon, the main renewable energy resource is hydropower. The total installed capacity of hydropower is 275 MW which represents 7.36% of the total installed electricity. Promotion of the use of solar hot water heaters is currently going with the cooperation of UNDP. Six wind turbines with a total capacity of 2 MW were installed in 1999 by a private investor, but none of them were made operational.

- In Libya, around 8000 solar water heaters were located in different parts of the country, 1 MW of PV systems were also installed in rural electrification and communications, and 1000 W of demonstrated wind turbine was implemented

- In Morocco, renewable energy sources represent 25% of the total energy supply. This seems very high in comparison with other countries in the region. However excluding non-commercial biomass and large hydro, renewable energies represent only 0.1% of the total energy supply. A national solar water heater program called PROMASOL was launched in November 2000 to improve quality and encourage use of solar water heaters. The objective of this program is to increase the actual installed capacity (60,000 m ) to about 400,000 m, and it is also planning to build 50 MW solar thermal plant. The total renewable energy electricity generation installed capacity reached 1324 MW, more than 93% of which being large hydro. The rest is composed of 30 MW small hydro (2.5%), 53 MW wind (4%), and 3 MW PV (0.5%).

- In Palestine, solar water heaters are used in more than 70% of houses. Several PV applications were demonstrated totaling about 25.0 kWp mainly on home systems in villages, clinical refrigerators and communication systems. In biomass application a study assessing the prospects for the use of different biogas technologies for electricity generation is being conducted in cooperation with European firms as part of EU-financial project known INTERSIDEM.

- In Oman, a solar thermal desalination project was built to produce 1m of fresh water using solar collectors. In addition to that, 352 kWp of PV systems used for water pumping, lighting, communications & cathodic protection were implemented.

- In Qatar, R&D activities were limited to a pilot solar pond system and testing a solar multi-stage flash fluidized bed (MSF-FB) desalination unit using concentrating collectors.

- In Syria, the hydropower is the only renewable energy resource which has a significant share in the energy balance. The total installed power from hydro is about 1500 MW which represent 40.91% of the total electricity installed. In addition to that 15000-20,000 solar water heaters, 80.0 kWp of PV, 150 kw of grid connected wind turbine, four units of biogas digesters (90 m /day each) are currently operating. Mechanical wind water pumping are also installed in several locations in the middle of Syria.

- In Tunis, the renewable energy resources represent 12% of the total energy supply which seems relatively high, however excluding biomass and large hydro, renewable energies represent only 1% of total the energy supply. Renewable energy utilization includes 110,000 m of solar water heaters installed with the help of GEF, 2 MW of PV systems, 20 MW of wind and 0.1 MW of biomass. In 2003, the total renewable energy based capacity was 85 MW, almost 74% of which being hydro (39% large hydro, and 35% small hydro). This represent around 3% of the total electricity installed capacity

- In United Arab Emirates, numerous small size solar projects for different applications such as telephone cabins, traffic lights, cathodic protection .. etc has been implemented. No large size projects to include renewable energy resources in the energy budget has been implemented yet.

- In Yemen, more then 500 units per month of solar water heaters and possible increase to 750 units are produced locally. More than 180 kWp of PV systems were installed for telecommunication, water pumping and for domestic applications in rural areas. In addition to that an 18 kW experimental wind turbine were installed by public electricity cooperation.

From the previous country activities we can conclude that:

Biomass (wood for household as well as some agricultural waste) used in rural villages of MENA countries represents the main renewable energy source in these areas.In urban areas, solar water heating accounts for less than 0.01% of the total energy supply. The total numbers of solar heating systems are 1000 m in Algeria, 500,000 m in Egypt, 200,000 units in Jordan, 8000 units in Libya, 60,000 m in Morocco, 15000 - 20000 units in Syria, 110,000 m in Tunis, 500 units per month in Yemen.For electricity generation, RE resources share is only 7.32% of the total electricity capacity. Hydro power dominate the use of RE in power generation (7.04% of the 7.32%), therefore the share of other renewable energies (solar, wind & biomass) is 0.28% only.

Conclusion:

Some of the regional and international organizations are playing key roles in promoting RE utilization in the MENA countries through their activities such as:
- Implementing a series of studies on RE assessments, potential, applications and environmental benefits.
- Organizing expert group meetings, seminars, trainings, workshops and conferences.
- Developing project proposals suitable for each country's resources potential and capabilities.
- Financing some of the pilot and pioneering projects.
- Formulating regional and sub-regional committees to foster regional cooperation.
- Providing advisory services and technical consultations.
- Helping in technology transfer from developed world to MENA countries.During the past decades, most of the national renewable energy activities in the region were mainly linked to R & D activities of the academic community.Most of the projects were implemented through the support of regional and international organizations and were not considered as an element of the national energy plan.The effectiveness of the national institutions could be acquainted with the applications in the country. As we noticed in the previous analysis, the utilization of RE technologies is negligible.Most MENA countries have established programs for teaching and education, with respect to renewable energy through their universities research centers and local agencies. However, these activities are still below the required level for wide renewable energy dissemination.Few MENA countries have established automated renewable energy database information systems such as Egypt and Jordan, but these efforts are still in the beginning and need further development to be able to serve both public and private sectors.The majority of MENA countries have not yet developed standards for renewable energy components and systems, nor have they established testing and certification laboratories in order to support the development and manufacturing of renewable energy technologies. Two main specialized and well equipped centers for renewable energy testing and certification are located in Egypt and Jordan.

Recommendations

In view of the current status of RE in MENA countries and in order to foster its wide utilization, the following is recommended:
- Including RE resources in the national energy plan of each country, through replacement of or combination with conventional resources when it is suitable. This would offer various economic and environmental benefits.
- Adopting financing arrangements aimed at reducing manufacturing costs of RE equipment and encouraging the use of energy conservation mechanisms by providing incentives when using these technologies.
- Removing subsidies from fossil fuel products and electricity to enhance the competitiveness of RE technologies in a fair manner.
- Strengthening engineering and technical universities in MENA countries by introducing vocational training, diploma, and advanced degree programs in RE. This will help in creating qualified technicians, engineers, processionals and experts in RE.
- Enhancing research collaboration and exchange of experience among organizations and research centers in MENA countries and between these and regional and international RE organizations and centers.
- Sponsoring education, training and public awareness programs in RE fields. Some of these should target policy makers and financing establishments.
- Adopting a technology transfer mechanism to support local manufacturing of RE equipment.

References

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