Leveraging Knowledge on Renewable Energy in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region

Abstract

The southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries are facing rapid demographic growth, swift urbanization and significant socioeconomic development which requires new and growing needs for energy. At the same time, these countries have a high potential for utilizing renewable energy resources, especially wind and solar, as well as improving their energy use and efficiency. The Southern Mediterranean countries (limited to Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt in our study) have implemented policies, programs, regulations, infrastructures and dedicated important funding to the renewable energy application. However, the region still needs to go beyond several limits that require in-depth scientific studies to come up with technical, political or managerial solutions. This chapter provides an examination of the cooperation in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation between the European Union and the Southern Mediterranean Countries in the domain of renewable energy. A review of the participation of these countries in programs such ERANETMED, H2020, and PRIMA highlighted the existence of research centers of excellence, individual expertise and large networks of collaboration. Our results draw attention to the need for implementation of more transnational collaborative research and innovation programs in the field renewable energy as a driver to the southern Mediterranean countries energy transition.