The renewable energy sector, in the Middle East and North Africa, is in a rapid and strong growth and expansion process. The region offers unique potential for the development of solar and wind power, with geographical and climatic unbeatable features.

In addition, the high cost of fossil fuels coupled with technological advances and lowering costs of the growing economies of scale are playing in favor of renewable energy sources, an industry that has more government support and is fostered by concerns linked to global warming.

It seems that finally some of these countries have decided to boost renewable energy and bet on them to maintain the pace of growth they have had in recent years.

The main technologies that are emerging in the Middle East are Solar photovoltaic systems, especially in Jordan and Saudi Arabia; Wind-power, in Egypt and Turkey; Solar-concentration power, also in Egypt, Morocco, United Arab Emirates and Oman.

These countries are betting high on the development of these new technologies by investing in ambitious projects and pharaonic infrastructure, for example, the sustainable city of Masdar, completely supplied by renewable energy, which was begun in February 2008 on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

In addition, Abu Dhabi in the coming years will be the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which aims to promote renewable energy worldwide and to overcome the obstacles they find in their development.

The new emphasis on renewable energy also has to do with the awareness that oil is finite so that these countries try to reduce fossil fuel consumption to increase exports. This is a forecasting exercise because they know that in 20, 50 or 100 years the oil will be exhausted, so they are trying to diversify.

So now they are trying to preserve and extend the duration and validity of hydrocarbons as prices are likely to remain high, allowing them to finance the development of renewable energy sources.

To close the equation, the water that part of the region drink, is produced by desalination, which requires the use of large amounts of fossil fuels. For this reason, the development of renewable energy would allow this process to continue, leaving higher amounts of oil and gas for export.

Currently, many companies (most of them German) are developing projects that look to exploit the vast amount of solar radiation in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as strong winds off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara to provide renewable energy with low emissions throughout the European continent in the coming years.

Thus, these countries could capture investment and technology for the development of renewable energy, and they could diversify its energy sources to improve domestic energy security.

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Energy is a basic necessity much like food and water. Countries are dependent on those resources for economic growth. Unfortunately Pakistan faces a major energy crisis in natural gas, power and oil. Power surges and blackouts seem to continue as usual and this has been going on for 5 years now. Power outages usually last 10 –12 hours a day in the cities and more in the rural areas. This has left the industries of Pakistan (mainly agricultural, secondary and tertiary sectors) stunned and so they are unable to fully operate. This has a very negative impact on the economy of the country. Many debates were held to solve this problem, but no actions have been taken to realize their ideas.

The demand of energy in Pakistan is huge, and can’t be fulfilled by electricity production based on oil. It can only meet 20% of our requirement through native production and the remaining oil is imported from Gulf States and other countries. No major oil, field has been discovered in last three decades. It is clear that other alternative production methods must be considered to meet the demand. Most likely one that is cheap, considering initial setup cost, and costs attached.

The second method of production we use is thermal (i-e using coal to produce electricity). Pakistan has been blessed with wealthy mineral resources, but the sad part is that we are too ignorant to explore them. We are sitting on gold mines and yet we do nothing about it. Balochistan, for instance, is rich with all sorts of minerals and could be exploited heavily. If we could solve the feudal problems of the provinces, and let the national and international companies explore the area, we might solve our fuel problems too. But this is a precious non-renewable resource, so we need better options.

Other major option is hydro-electric power generation. This is the cheapest and most feasible way of producing electricity for our country. Two major energy dams in Pakistan are Tarbela and Mangla. If only the proposed Kalabagh dam would be constructed, 80% of our energy needs would be fulfilled. Best option is to construct this dam, and take advantage of the natural hydrography of Pakistan in maximum possible extent.

Wind power and solar power generation are good alternatives as well. Their initial costs are low when compared to other methods, and are definitely in the best interests of our country. Furthermore, we have to control political instability that plagues our nation, and poses a barrier for the implementation of proposed solutions to the energy crisis in Pakistan.

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