According to an assessment by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Mauritania’s significant renewable resources will allow the country to grow its local economy. The Mauritania Renewables Readiness Assessment, a report developed by IRENA in conjunction with the UNDP, finds that development of renewable energy in the country would be facilitated by the existing electricity network of mini-grids. Such a transition would be mainly driven by solar and wind resources, the report finds, and could be strengthened by cooperation with both the Maghreb region and West Africa. It would enable Mauritania to not only provide energy for domestic economic development, but also make the country a renewable energy exporter.
“Mauritania has already taken steps towards the large-scale use of renewable energy both for on-grid and off-grid applications,” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. “Now, with renewable energy sources cost-competitive with oil-generated electricity in most regions in the country, Mauritania has an opening to rethink its energy strategy, and build a framework integrating technical solutions and business models based on renewable energy.”
Several planned investments in wind and solar would greatly advance renewable energy capacity in Mauritania, but not enough to keep up with demand growth stemming from the mining sector. Electricity demand is expected to grow by up to 600% between 2010 and 2030 rolex replica, led primarily by industry needs and fuelled in part by rising domestic demand.
IRENA’s Renewables Readiness Assessments offer a holistic evaluation of conditions for renewable energy deployment in a country, and outline the actions necessary to further improve these conditions. The Mauritania assessment provides the foundation for a concrete and actionable strategy while recommending the country undertake a number of measures to support large-scale deployment of renewable energy including the development of a national policy on renewable energy, updating the electricity code and its associated implementing decrees, and creating the institutional and regulatory framework to facilitate deployment of renewable. The government will also need to work on promoting capacity building and research, as well as develop a financial framework for the industry.