Mena region utilities added 1.64GW or 5.7% to their capacity to generate power from renewable sources in 2017. While this was an improvement on a 1.40GW or 5.1% increase in 2016 it was substantially below the global renewables expansion of 13.5% last year.
Global renewables generating capacity exceeded 2.28TW by the end of 2017, when Mena capacity stood at 30.26GW, of which 24.27GW of hydropower capacity was the dominant component. Solar, unsurprisingly given the regional climate, increasingly appears to be the Middle East’s go-to renewables option. North Africa particularly benefits from strong winds from the Atlantic and governments have successfully tapped international financial institutions for backing both solar and wind projects. (CONTINUED - 1565 WORDS)
