Opportunities for Accelerating Renewable Energy Investment in the Arab Region

The 'Pan-Arab Strategy for the Development of Renewable Energy 2010 – 2030' adopted at the third Arab Economic and Social Development Summit by the League of Arab States in 2013, updated to the 'Pan-Arab Strategy for Sustainable Energy 2014-2030', set a solid basis for regional co-operation to drive renewable energy deployment in the Arab world: committing countries to increase the region’s installed renewable power generation capacity from 12 GW in 2013 to 80 GW in 2030. In 2017, total renewable energy investment in the region reached USD 11 billion compared to USD 0.3 billion in 2008. Despite the recent trend, massive capital investments are still required to meet the ambitious combined targets of 80 GW of capacity by 2030.

In support of this strategy, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) partnered with the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) to implement the Pan-Arab Clean Energy Initiative (PACE), one of the initiatives included in the Roadmap of Actions to implement the strategy. As such, the PACE is a regional initiative that aims to promote the integration of greater shares of renewables into power systems of the Arab region with the objective of facilitating investments towards an accelerated deployment of renewable energy resources. During this workshop, IRENA with its partners addressed the financing and investment landscape of renewable energy projects in the Arab region, one of the key components of the PACE Action Plan.