By Renewable Energy Focus staff

The study, which was made on behalf of the World Bank, also indicates that European CSP plant manufacturers and technology providers are interested and ready to get involved in the region.

The background for the study is the World Bank’s Clean Technology Fund (CTF), which supports the development of solar thermal power plants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

An investment programme is intended to help finance new CSP power plants in the region, develop a local CSP industry, as well as attract additional investment and allow MENA countries to participate in the growing renewable energy expansion.

Together with Ernst & Young, the Fraunhofer institutes analysed the CSP value chain, the production processes of a solar thermal plant’s core components and the industry potentials in the MENA countries.

The local value added for CSP plants in the MENA region can reach up to 60% on average, and the effects due to local value added in the region could be US$14.3 billion if sustainable, long-term demand is created.

Furthermore 60,000-80,000 new jobs could be created in the region by 2025.

The CSP study, MENA Assessment of Local Manufacturing Potential for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Projects (pdf), examined Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.