* UAE: Dubai plans bids for US$3.3bn solar park by Sept 2012 -  Bloomberg, 12 March 2012, DEWA awarded a contract last month to ILF Consulting Engineers to provide consultancy services for the Arabia Gulf's largest solar park. The Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) plans to issue the first bids for a AED12bn (US$3.3 bin) solar park by September that will generate 1,000 megawatts of power in the sheikhdom by 2030.

    * UAE: Tendering for Solar Projects in UAE, March 6, 2012, Dr. Michael Krämer, Senior Associate at international law firm Taylor Wessing, discusses what to look out for when participating in public tenders in Dubai. On 9 January this year, Dubai's Supreme Council of Energy (SCE) has launched the Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, which aims to ultimately have a total capacity of 1 gigawatt upon completion in 2030. The first phase of the project will see the development of a 10 megawatt photovoltaic (PV) solar plant, which is supposed to generate electricity in early 2013.

    * UAE: Solar atlas can show the way to renewable energy target in UAE
The National, Feb 26, 2012 , While in theory the UAE receives the same if not far more solar energy than Europe or North America, in reality the dusty atmosphere cuts out as much as 90 per cent of the sun's energy during a heavy dust storm. Even on cloud-free days, there is often far less solar energy than might be expected for such a hot and sunny country.

    * Saudi Arabia: Could Saudi Arabia Become the Next Solar Market Hotspot?
January 8, 2012, Cleantechnica.com, Located within the equatorial "Sun Belt," where more solar radiation hits the earth than any other part of the globe, best available measurements are that Saudi Arabia receives an average 2,200 thermal kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy per square meter of land area every day. That's an abundant amount of freely available solar energy just waiting to be harnessed. Crafting policies that would stimulate adoption of solar energy systems and development of a solar energy economic value chain could also make significant contributions to critical social and environmental challenges the country faces.

    * Qatar: Qatar Paves Way for Clean Energy in the Middle East, Islamic Finance News, March 14, 2012 , Following its winning bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022, (becoming the first country in the Middle East to do so) Qatar aims to host a sustainable, energy neutral event to showcase its intentions. Plans to implement energy efficient lighting and solar cooling systems have already been announced for five of the stadia that will be hosting World Cup games. 

 

    *  Morocco: The Political Potential Of Renewable Energy, February 21, 2012
Midway through a conversation with Saïd Mouline last week, the director of Morocco's Agency for the Development of Renewable Energy, it became clear that building the region's alternative capacity meant much more than just cleaner energy.  Faced with a dramatically different economic and political landscape than just a year ago, Mouline and the Moroccan government in Rabat have set out to not only establish themselves as green energy leaders in the Mediterranean, but possibly even use that new focus to shift the balance of influence in the region.
Morocco solar FIT, Morocco solar incentives and subsidies

    * Egypt: Germany to fund solar and wind energy projects in Egypt,   Cairo, Egypt --- 13 March 2012 - The government of Germany has confirmed that it will support the Egyptian government with funding of US$150 million for the development of solar and wind energy projects in Egypt. This report from the Egyptian State Information Office here came from allAfrica.com, quoting minister of planning and international cooperation Fayza Abul-Naga. She said that the German government would support the Kom Ombo solar power project with a US$65 loan, and another US$85 million for the wind farm project in the Gulf of Suez.

    * Algeria - Algeria forces renewable energies,  December 16, 2011- REVE

Of this shall be gained 2,000 MW from wind energy, 2,800 MW of photovoltaic and 7,200 MW from concentrated solar power.  In 2011 the Algerian ministry of energy and mines launched a program on energy efficiency and renewable energies with a capacity of 120 billion US Dollars. The target is to install additional power generating capacity from renewables amounting 22,000 MW between 2011 and 2030