North African Renewable Energy Possibilities for Europe  – New Lines Institute

Investing in Renewable Energy in Africa to Diversify Europe’s Energy Sources

The energy fallout of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has forced European states to look for alternative sources of both conventional (nonrenewable) and renewable energy. Europe has looked to Africa to meet its demand, but the African states with the largest conventional energy reserves are plagued by instability that limits access.

Introduction

As Europe moves toward a transition to green energy, it should invest in ways to help African states remove obstacles to the use of their sustainable and renewable resources. U.S. policymakers should aid these efforts with financial support, a move that will strengthen U.S. relations with African countries and help to advance its counterterrorism and great-power competition goals in the region.

Morocco and Algeria: Key Players in Renewable Energy

Two countries that can help Europe fulfill these objectives are Morocco and Algeria. Both nations have renewable energy reserves in solar and wind power and hydropower that can be utilized to create green hydrogen, a renewable energy source that is already beginning to secure European investments. The infrastructure needed to produce and transport green hydrogen is extensive, and political obstacles include fraught Moroccan-Algerian relations and Algeria’s ties with Russia. However, investment in the sector can help to improve these relations and achieve European and U.S. economic and political goals in North Africa.

Challenges to Conventional Energy Projects in Africa

Although Africa is home to a significant number of nonnuclear renewable energy power systems including bioenergy, hydropower, solar PV (or solar photovoltaic panels), and wind power, this type of energy accounted for less than 10% of Africa’s total power generation as of 2021. Most of Africa’s electricity comes from fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal. Nigeria, Algeria, and Libya play key roles in the natural gas and crude oil markets as the countries with the largest reserves and highest export levels for these fossil fuels in Africa. Yet instability and increasing Western disinvestment limits these nations from helping Europe diversify its energy sources away from Russia. Additionally, planned construction projects for pipelines to transport gas through multiple West African countries to Europe will run into the same problem of instability, making renewable energy opportunities in other, more stable countries a wiser investment for European nations.

1. Instability in major natural gas- and oil-producing countries in West and North Africa hampers their ability to meet Europe’s energy demands.
2. Renewable energy accounts for less than 10% of Africa’s total power generation.
3. Nigeria, Algeria, and Libya have significant reserves of fossil fuels but face political and security challenges.

Europe’s Transition to Green Energy

The European Union has already begun to recognize this trend and to shift away from fossil fuels in order to match its goal, outlined in the European Green Deal, of generating net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Within the Green Deal, a segment that focuses on the clean energy transition addresses one key element related to Europe’s over-reliance on African conventional energy: “ensuring a secure EU energy supply.” While the EU is devoting funds from both its annual budget and its COVID-19 recovery budget to financing this Green Deal, this green transition’s speed must adjust to events on the ground in West and North Africa’s main fossil fuel-producing states.

Investing in Renewable Energy: Morocco and Algeria

Nigeria’s massive fossil fuel resources currently are being used in a very limited capacity. As of mid-2022, the EU annually imports 14% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Nigeria. Even though the EU is interested in importing more, security breaches of the pipelines and their outdated infrastructure have led to limited output and contributed to the decrease in the amount of Nigerian LNG exported to Europe over the past couple of years. Two major projects have been agreed on by pertinent nations to transport Nigerian natural gas to Europe despite these difficulties, but their successful construction and operation will depend on an increase of local gas production and new regional gas infrastructure that currently faces instability in the Sahel and greater West African region.

Multiple West African nations have attempted to create the infrastructure needed to better realize Nigeria’s natural gas supply, but these initiatives are constrained by regional instability; two projects in particular demonstrate this. First, Algeria, Nigeria, and Niger signed a memorandum of understanding for a trans-Saharan gas pipeline project in July 2022 that could, if successful, provide Europe potential alternatives to Russian energy. The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) would transport gas from Nigeria to Niger to Algeria, before being transported to Italy via the undersea Transmed pipeline or being converted to LNG tankers and shipped elsewhere. The Nigerian and Algerian governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the project mid-2022, and the pipeline is supposed to start operating fully in 2030.

The second project is the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline (NMGP) that intends to transport Nigerian gas through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania. The gas would then go from Morocco to Spain through the existing Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline. There are multiple issues standing in the way of the project’s success, including the cost and the lack of a timeline. Because of the large amount of physical terrain that needs to be traversed during the project’s implementation, certain aspects, such as handoffs between separate phases of the project, will be challenging to accomplish.

Morocco and Algeria continue their efforts to advance their respective projects, but both the TSGP and the NMGP are in jeopardy of being derailed because of Niger’s July 2023 coup. Junta leaders who toppled Niger’s democratically elected government said it failed to respond to growing insurgent threats, similar to the rationale used in the 2021 coup in Mali and the 2022 coup in Burkina Faso. With the threat posed by local jihadist affiliates of al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria only having increased in Mali and Burkina Faso since those respective coups, Niger’s outlook for the creation, staffing, and use of multiple natural gas pipelines amid this instability seems unlikely. The situation highlights the importance of looking outside of the main energy-producing West African states to meet Europe’s demand.

Green Hydrogen as an Energy Source

Algeria and Morocco boast significant renewable energy assets for European energy diversification and sustainability. Algeria has one of the highest solar potentials in the world and promising wind energy potential, while Morocco has been a regional leader in developing and implementing renewable energy initiatives with its own solar and wind resources. Algerian and Moroccan wind, solar, and hydropower are particularly promising given the opportunities for use in creating green hydrogen.

More conventional forms of producing hydrogen use fossil fuels and result in the generation of carbon dioxide as a byproduct, but

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis:

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The article discusses the need for Europe to transition to green energy and diversify its energy sources away from Russia. This aligns with SDG 7, which focuses on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. The article also mentions the importance of investing in renewable energy infrastructure, which relates to SDG 9, which aims to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation. Additionally, the article highlights the role of renewable energy in addressing climate change (SDG 13) and emphasizes the need for partnerships between Europe and African countries to achieve these goals (SDG 17).

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 7.2: Increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
• SDG 9.1: Develop quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure
• SDG 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning
• SDG 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public-private partnerships

The article emphasizes the need to increase the share of renewable energy in Europe’s energy mix, which aligns with SDG 7.2. It also highlights the importance of developing sustainable and resilient infrastructure for renewable energy production, which relates to SDG 9.1. The article calls for integrating climate change measures into national policies and planning, which corresponds to SDG 13.2. Finally, the article emphasizes the need for effective public-private partnerships to achieve these goals, which aligns with SDG 17.17.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Percentage of renewable energy in Europe’s energy mix
• Investment in renewable energy infrastructure
• Inclusion of climate change measures in national policies and planning
• Number of public-private partnerships established for renewable energy projects

The article mentions the need to increase the share of renewable energy in Europe’s energy mix, which can be measured by tracking the percentage of renewable energy sources used. It also emphasizes the importance of investment in renewable energy infrastructure, which can be measured by monitoring the amount of financial resources allocated to such projects. The integration of climate change measures into national policies and planning can be assessed by analyzing the content of these policies and plans. Finally, the establishment of public-private partnerships for renewable energy projects can be measured by tracking the number of partnerships formed and their effectiveness in achieving the desired outcomes.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: newlinesinstitute.org

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