The energy ring and the Euro-Mediterranean electricity market
Energy is undoubtedly the domain in which euro-Mediterranean countries’ interdependence is the most strategic and runs deepest. Cooperation has been built up on the basis of oil and gas supplies, made steady and secure thanks to the numerous, reliable infrastructures put in place. However, hydrocarbon resources are concentrated in a limited number of countries (i.e. Algeria, Egypt and Libya).
New cooperation initiatives can only be a good thing, especially in renewable energy sources (mainly solar and wind power), which are of greater interest to Southern Mediterranean countries and establish more socially balanced bonds.
For almost two decades, electricity companies in the Mediterranean have been working on a gigantic project. Its target is to link up all the electricity networks in countries round the Mediterranean, from Morocco to Spain, crossing thousands of kilometres through the Maghreb, the Mashreq and southern Turkey towards the East and Greece, Italy and Northern France. The aim of this pioneering construction is to set up Euro-Mediterranean electricity and gas markets.
The author
Abdenour Keramane is publishing director of the journal MedEnergie, which he founded. He has held posts as managing director of Sonelgaz and Minister for industry and mines in Algeria.
Contents
- The benefits of interconnection
- European electricians, precursors of the EU
- Electricity cooperation in the Maghreb, pioneer of the Arab Maghreb Union
- Energy more developed in the North than the South
- The Mediterranean Energy Ring, a key to development
- MedRing or the construction of a network interconnecting three continents
- A Euro-Mediterranean energy market by 2015?
- Renewable energy sources, a boost for MedRing
- CONCLUSION
