Renewable energy in North Africa

This briefing by Zero Carbon Analytics examines the renewable energy landscapes of Egypt and Morocco within the broader context of North Africa. It details the region's high technical potential for solar and wind, the current dominance of fossil fuels (gas in Egypt and coal in Morocco), and the strategic shifts toward renewable energy and green hydrogen to enhance energy security and export potential.

• North Africa possesses significant untapped renewable energy potential, with a theoretical solar capacity of 2,792 GW and a technical wind capacity of 223 GW, though actual installations as of the report date were only 10.4 GW for solar and less than 6 GW for wind.
• Egypt's power sector is heavily reliant on gas, which accounted for approximately 90% of its power generation and 42% of Africa's total gas generation in 2020. Despite this, Egypt has the second and third largest solar and wind markets in Africa, with 1.63 GW of solar (18% of Africa's total) and 1.4 GW of wind (21% of Africa's total) as of 2021.
• Egypt is implementing the 2035 Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy (ISES), which targets renewables to provide 20% of total generation by 2022 and 42% by 2035. The country is also developing large-scale projects like the 1.4 GW Benban solar farm and the 262.5 MW Ras Ghareb Wind Farm.
• Morocco's energy mix is characterized by a high reliance on coal, which accounts for around 60% of its generation mix, with fossil fuels overall exceeding 80%. However, Morocco is a leader in renewable growth in North Africa, with onshore wind serving as the second largest electricity source (13% of electricity) and overtaking gas generation in 2019.
• Morocco aims for 52% renewable electricity generation by 2030, with potential increases to 60%-65%. It has developed the Noor Power Station, the world's largest concentrated solar power facility at 510 MW, and the 301 MW Tarfaya wind farm.
• Morocco is strategically positioning itself to be a global green hydrogen exporter by 2050, leveraging its renewable resources and existing ammonia and phosphate industries to replace grey hydrogen in fertilizer production and export to the EU.
• Investment in North African energy is increasingly driven by Independent Power Producers (IPPs), who invested USD 8.9 billion (67% of their USD 13.3 billion total energy investment) into renewables between 2010 and 2020, with 82% of these IPP investments concentrated in Egypt and Morocco.

APA

Team, Z. (2022). Renewable energy in North Africa. Zero Carbon Analytics. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewable-energy-in-north-africa/

Chicago

Team, ZCA. Renewable energy in North Africa. Zero Carbon Analytics, 2022. https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewable-energy-in-north-africa/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Team |first1=ZCA |title=Renewable energy in North Africa |publisher=Zero Carbon Analytics |date=11 July 2022 |url=https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewable-energy-in-north-africa/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{team2022renewable, author = {Team, ZCA}, title = {{Renewable energy in North Africa}}, institution = {Zero Carbon Analytics}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://zerocarbon-analytics.org/insights/briefings/renewable-energy-in-north-africa/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }