Fostering investments in the MENA region: EURELECTRIC advocates an 8-point action plan

Concerted effort is needed to attract investment in the electricity sector in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, EURELECTRIC says in a newly published paper. The paper was launched at a joint MEDELEC-AUE-EURELECTRIC event today. Some of the countries of the region are directly affiliated to EURELECTRIC.

Energy demand in the MENA region is expected to increase tremendously and many countries have recently set ambitious targets to revise their energy strategies and are increasingly turning to renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. They have also started implementing the regulatory reforms required to achieve these sustainable objectives, albeit at different implementation programs and speeds. Members of most of the MENA region are however not attracting sufficient private capital and investment in electricity generation assets and infrastructure.

Against this background, the EURELECTRIC paper lists eight actions for change. Most notably EURELECTRIC recommends measures to:

• Enable cost-reflective energy prices that promote responsible customer behaviour, while addressing energy poverty through targeted social policy
• Strengthen the (financial) independence of national regulatory agencies;
• Increase market transparency and formulate sound and stable energy policies
• Facilitate technical and political coordination and cooperation on grid investments
• Open and reform market structure, in particular for renewable energy projects
• Enhance the EU-MENA energy cooperation in the context of the new momentum brought by the Energy Union

The full paper is available here.