Renewable energy in North Africa

North Africa possesses significant solar and wind potential, with Egypt and Morocco emerging as the region's largest renewable energy markets. While Egypt's power sector is dominated by gas and Morocco's by coal, both are aggressively expanding their renewable capacities through policy shifts and international investment. Egypt has seen rapid solar growth, exemplified by the Benban solar farm, while Morocco has focused on onshore wind and concentrated solar power, aiming to become a global green hydrogen exporter by 2050.

• North Africa has vast untapped renewable energy potential; while the region has a theoretical solar capacity of 2,792 GW and a technical wind capacity of 223 GW, it has installed only 10.4 GW of solar and less than 6 GW of wind.
• Egypt's electricity generation is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, with gas accounting for approximately 90% of its power generation, representing 42% of all gas generation in Africa in 2020.
• Egypt is rapidly expanding its renewable capacity through the 2035 Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy (ISES), targeting a renewable generation share of 20% by 2022 and 42% by 2035.
• Morocco's power sector is characterized by a high reliance on coal, which makes up around 60% of its generation mix, though the country targets 52% renewable electricity generation by 2030.
• Morocco is leveraging its renewable resources to establish itself as a global green hydrogen exporter by 2050, focusing on replacing grey hydrogen in its fertiliser production and exporting to the EU.
• Investment in North African energy between 2010 and 2020 saw Independent Power Producers (IPPs) contribute USD 13.3 billion, with 67% (USD 8.9 billion) directed toward renewable energy, primarily 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} }