© Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images An aerial view of the Nur 1 solar power plant, which concentrates solar panels near Ouarzazate, in central Morocco, in 2016.North Africa's abundant sunshine could soon be powering homes and businesses in Europe, and European leaders are linking giant solar projects in North Africa with undersea power cables to free the continent from Russian rule.
The projects will take advantage of the fact that the climate on one side of the Mediterranean is darker and cloudier than the other, even though Europe and North Africa are geographically close. The abundance of desert land also makes mega-projects much easier in North Africa than in Europe, where open areas tend to be agricultural or mountainous.
A sudden need for alternative energy after Russia's attack on Ukraine has sparked discussions about North African solar projects to bring electricity to Europe, officials and experts say, as European leaders see an easy path to massive energy security. energy Previous proposals suggested that energy projects in North Africa could meet up to 15 percent of Europe's electricity needs.
Interest is especially high in Morocco, where a 10-mile submarine electric cable already runs through the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain.
Morocco's leaders, who have never had fossil fuels to export, see an opportunity to promote their country as a renewable energy giant. At the same time, Europe wants to meet its ambitious climate goals and at the same time meet its energy needs outside of Russia. The result is a confluence of interests that could lead to a sudden surge in renewable energy use in Europe. It's essentially a proof of concept for sending green energy from sunnier parts of the world to less sunny regions.
"The problem of energy security or energy independence is more relevant than ever. Trust is the key,” Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said late last year after the European Union signed the Green Partnership, committing to invest in energy projects in Morocco.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, along with Burita, said Europe alone does not have "the massive potential to generate the scale of renewable energy that we need".
© Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images A Moroccan farmer walks past solar panels connected to a generator that powers a pump that draws water from underground in the mountains of eastern Morocco's Berkan province.The world's largest solar thermal resort
Morocco already has a large solar power plant and plans to build more. Thus, European leaders consider them as natural partners.
"Europe is really in the process of deep harmonization in the energy sector. This is a real crisis," said Laura El-Kathiri, an expert on renewable energy in North Africa and a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Russian energy divestment "will be the catalyst that changes the path of clean energy more than anything else." . climate talk and all that."
In recent years, Morocco has built a giant solar project in the desert near the city of Ouarzazate, installing mirrors that span more than five kilometers and direct the sun's rays into a central tower filled with molten salt tubes that absorb heat and operate. great battery. the reflected heat can help generate energy in the twilight, a solar technique known as concentrating solar energy.
The world's largest concentrated solar power plant looks like a temple of renewable energy, an ethereal glowing beacon on a barren desert plain. Visible from space, the facility is estimated to produce about 1,500 gigawatt hours per year, less than a third of the capacity of the smallest US nuclear power plant.
© Abdeljalil Bunhar/AP An aerial view of the completed Noor 3 solar power plant near Ouarzazate, Morocco, April 2017. 
© Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images A worker walks past mirrors outside the Noor 1 solar power plant near Ouarzazate in October 2015.Industry experts say there are practical obstacles to a significant expansion of solar energy projects in Morocco, as there is land that is not being used by farmers and has little economic value. Submarine cables are not technically complicated or very expensive, they say, because of the relatively short distances required to cross the Mediterranean Sea floor.
The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that North Africa has 2,792 gigawatts of solar power and 223 gigawatts of wind power. El-Kathiri said that in 2021, Europe will be able to produce more than two and a half times more electricity.
"Unlimited Solar Potential"
This is not the first time that Europe is thinking about buying solar energy in North Africa. a decade ago, a failed project called Desertec aimed to provide about 15 percent of Europe's energy needs with $436 billion in solar investment in the region. It eventually collapsed between the European economic crisis and the arrival of cheap fossil fuels from Russia.
In Desertec's presentation materials, part of the Sahara is marked with a small red square, indicating that the dry area is sufficient to meet the world's needs for electricity from solar energy. Some analysts say the field is not realistic enough. But there is huge potential for solar energy in the desert, El-Kathiri said.
More than a decade later, the economics of the ambitious project are making more sense, analysts say, as solar power prices drop and fossil fuel prices are higher than before the occupation of Ukraine.
"Comparative advantage is quite clear if policy is not discriminatory," said Jonathan Walters, an energy economist specializing in the Mediterranean and director of the World Bank.
The amount of electricity that can be produced in North Africa and the Middle East "depends almost entirely on how quickly Europe wants to green its energy supply," Walters said. "There is almost unlimited potential."
The problems remain. large-scale solar farms require water to operate, which can be difficult in the desert. According to the initiators of the project, the demand for water is reduced, and part of the water can be supplied from desalination plants powered by renewable energy sources.
Some social activists wonder if the mega-projects are replicating some of the colonial relationships of past centuries, when European powers exploited African peoples for their resources but offered little in return. European leaders have said they want to ensure the growth of North Africa's national energy industry while undertaking mega-projects for Europe.
Morocco also remains a monarchy where the scope for dissent is limited at best, although proponents of closer ties cite the same problem as many fossil fuel superpowers.
For many Moroccans in industry, selling energy to Europe is a way to boost their country's capacity.
"Other countries benefit from the availability of oil. we don't use wind or solar energy,” said Mohamed Alaoui, managing director of Casablanca-based African Sustainability Consultancy. "In Morocco, we see this as a unique opportunity."
