8 January 2015: The ‘Bringing Europe and Third Countries Closer Together through Renewable Energies’ (BETTER) project has published an assessment of opportunities and barriers to renewable energy deployment in North Africa. The fourth BETTER policy brief concludes that concentrated solar power (CSP) high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) links between North Africa to Europe could become an important element of European power supply owing to their flexibility.

The main objective of the BETTER project is to assess the role of cooperation with third countries in helping the EU achieve its renewable energy targets in 2020 and beyond, and in supporting renewable energy electricity projects in third countries. The brief titled, ‘Future Prospects for RES Cooperation Mechanisms in North Africa’ provides an overview of North African countries’ renewable energy targets; presents the Mediterranean grid and network infrastructure; identifies barriers to renewable energy cooperation; and examines the implementation of the EU cooperation mechanism.

As the major barriers to cooperation, the study identifies lack of availability of capital stemming from politically defined electricity prices and price subsidies, and lack of signals from the EU on the desirability of energy cooperation post-2020. Other barriers include regulatory and bureaucratic uncertainty, lack of knowledge on renewables, and path dependencies in decision making in oil and gas exporting countries.

The brief concludes that CSP-HVDC links between the two regions can play an important role in reducing the effort required to achieve high renewable energy generation shares in Europe, as they reduce the need for surplus generation and related capacity. However, the high infrastructure investment costs and the question of acceptance continue to pose significant challenges to implementation. For North Africa, the study identifies clear and visible local environmental, economic and social benefits as a crucial factor.

Initiated in July 2012 and carried out under the EU’s Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, BETTER examines renewable energy cooperation between the EU and third countries from a number of angles. The final BETTER project meeting, in preparation for the BETTER European Parliament event and the BETTER Final Conference, will take place from 17-18 February, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. [BETTER Publication Webpage] [Publication: Future Prospects for RES Cooperation Mechanisms in North Africa] [IISD RS Story on BETTER EU Stakeholder Workshop]