Wind Energy Capacity to Climb in Middle East & Africa

Middle East and Africa is expected to install 10.7 gigawatt (GW) of wind energy capacity between 2020 and 2024, an increase of 167 % on current market status, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said. In 2019, the region installed 894 megawatt (MW) capacity of wind power, a decrease of 7 % on from the previous year’s 962MW installed.

Last year’s leading countries in generating wind energy included: Egypt (262MW), Morocco (216 MW), Jordan (190MW), Ethiopia (120MW). Over the next five years, South Africa will be leading the growth trend in the region with an additional 3.3GW of wind energy capacity installed by 2024 according to GWEC.

In North Africa and the Middle East, GWEC Market Intelligence’s preliminary forecasts show that wind energy capacity will surge over the next five years in markets such as Egypt (1.8GW), Morocco (1.2GW) and Saudi Arabia (1.2GW).

“Challenges such as policy and power market frameworks, transmission infrastructure bottlenecks, and off-taker risk must be overcome in order for Africa and the Middle East to take full advantage of their wind potential,” Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC said.

Jon Lezamiz, African Market Development Director at Siemens Gamesa and Chair of GWEC’s Africa Task Force commented: ”We see many exciting developments in the region including construction starting on hybrid renewable projects, increases in regional cooperation and opening of markets to corporate PPAs, all of which we are convinced will drive growth in the coming years.”