Dii, the international alliance for desert power, sees an enormous potential for wind energy on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.
Dii's analysis shows that south of the Mediterranean conditions for onshore wind are particularly favorable. Wind speeds at very good sites e.g. in Western Morocco, central Algeria or Egypt reach more than 8-10 m/s at 50 meters height. Suitable sites that can be well connected to the grid in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and in Saudi Arabia also reach very good wind speeds. In other words, wind energy is cost competitive with current mid and base load power plants. Electricity from wind power costs 50-70 EUR/MWh at good sites in MENA. Additionally, countries in the region have approved very ambitious wind power targets: Approx. 20 GW have been targeted by the following eight MENA countries until 2020: Morocco (2 GW), Algeria (0.5 GW), Tunisia (0.6 GW), Libya (1.5 GW), Egypt (7.2 GW), Jordan (1.2 GW), and Saudi Arabia (5 GW).
