New Interconnection Perspectives for Electrical Energy Exchange between Europe and North Africa

Swiss partners

• ZHAW: Petr Korba (main applicant)

Partners in the MENA region

• Université Ibn Khaldoun de Tiaret, Algérie: Mokhtar Benasla (main applicant)

Presentation of the projet

To reach a net-zero emission electrical grid in the established time targets, power systems would depend on significant amounts of renewable generation and the flexibility to cope with the volatility of these technologies. This offers opportunities for new ideas and innovative solutions. The idea of transferring solar electricity from North Africa to Europe has received increasing interest in recent years, particularly after the concern of European countries to meet electricity demand during winter periods, as anticipated e.g. in the winter time 2022 which turned to be very mild in the end. However, there is a risk that this will not always happen. Different studies have been carried out addressing only political and economic perspectives. Very little has been done to investigate the actual technical challenges to interconnect the European and the North-African power grids. The objective of this project is to demonstrate that solar electricity import from North Africa via new High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) links to continental Europe can have a positive impact on the European electrical grid, and consequently the investments needed in power transmission infrastructure and storage could be reduced. The project would address the benefits of the interconnection between North Africa and Continental Europe that have not been presented before.