North Africa Advocates Cheaper Energy With Floating Solar Panels

Solar panels gleam in the sunlight on a Tunisian lagoon as part of a long-delayed effort to tap the North African government's tremendous renewable energy potential. While industry insiders moan about red tape, the rise in fossil fuel prices following Russia's February annexation of Ukraine provides a tremendous incentive for similar investments throughout the Maghreb area.

As stated by Michael Tanchum, a researcher in the field, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco all have an excess of resources for solar power as well as wind energy resources. Extreme natural gas price pressures, particularly in Europe, have altered the equation for renewable energy investments, as Tanchum mentioned in a report from Barrons.

On the other hand, Omar Bey, CEO of French-based renewables developer Qair, expects that the company's 200-kilowatt solar panels station on a lake near a Tunis industrial park may serve as a model for larger projects across the country. Given the scenario around hydrocarbons, particularly gas, Tunisia has no alternative but to turn to renewables, he noted, adding that technologies such as floating solar panels might assist.

Water Reservoirs With Solar Cells

Being in reservoirs or ponds helps cool the cells, making them more effective, and allows us to use water rather than taking up land that would be used for various things like cultivation or housing, as emphasized by Bey. It also helps minimize evaporation, which is beneficial to a water-stressed environment, he added.

Tunisia, located mostly on the sun-drenched Mediterranean Coast, is well-positioned to create renewable energy for internal consumption as well as trade with energy-hungry Europe. The nation established aggressive renewable energy objectives in 2015.

Based on the Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas, greener sources contributed only 2.8 percent of the nation's energy mix last year, with the balance coming from natural gas (STEG). Tanchum, a non-resident expert at Washington's Middle East Institute, believes the industry is hampered by "political stagnation." Tunisia has been in upheaval for more than a decade, following its 2011 revolution. Ideological squabbles have frequently taken precedence over reforming the economy, which is largely reliant on energy and food imports.

Floating solar panels in a water reservoir in Le Kram, near Tunisia's capital Tunis, are part of efforts to harness the country's vast renewable energy potential. North African countries advocate for cheaper and greener energy as they implement floating solar cells in water reservoirs. FETHI BELAID AFP

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Morocco's Renewable Efforts

Official estimates reveal that the state's fuel subsidy cost increased by 370 percent during the first half of the year versus the same period in 2021. Nonetheless, despite incentives to promote renewables, such attempts have been hampered by administrative and legal barriers, as per Ali Kanzari, head of a solar industry group.

He claims that some (imported solar panels) languish at customs for a month or longer. More flexible laws are required. Everything must be accelerated. Two years after completion, a huge solar facility in Tataouine became finally linked to the electricity grid in October. Abdelmomen Ferchichi, the project's leader, cited the problems in obtaining permissions and the station's remoteness from the grid.

Bey claimed that "misunderstandings" amongst some union members inside STEG, who were leery of underhanded moves to privatize the industry, had also slowed progress. Tanchum told AFP that, despite the Maghreb's renewables potential, "only Morocco has risen as a regional leader."

Algeria's Ambitious Green Plan

Morocco pledged in 2009 to increase renewables to 52 basis points of its energy mix by 2030, and according to the government, it already produces around a fifth of its power from clean sources. The country's energy ministry, "this strategy has begun to show effect, with 111 projects for renewable energies completed or under construction."

They comprise a solar and wind complex capable of producing over 10 gigatonnes of power and transmitting the energy to the United Kingdom through a 3,800-kilometer (2,360-mile) underwater cable. Tunisia aspires to accomplish something similar, as per the TechXplore report.

It submitted for a European Union subsidy in October for an 800-million-euro ($828-million) cable to Italy that would span 200 kilometers and be operational by 2027. Algeria, Africa's largest natural gas producer, had set an ambitious objective of 15,000 megawatts of solar power by 2035. The first phase of a 1,000-megawatt facility is scheduled to go online late next year, although the country now generates just 3% of its power from the sun.

As per Intissar Fakir, director of the Middle East Institute's North Africa and Sahel Programme, Algeria's financial surplus from gas exports would be used to modernize fossil fuel infrastructure rather than renewables. She also mentioned significant barriers to international investment in the sector, not least Algeria's infamous bureaucracy.