Alternative energy is big in the Middle East and North Africa, by which I mean it is talked about a great deal. The first phase of world’s largest solar plant, Noor I, was switched on in Ouarzazate, Morocco , about two years ago. The German investment bank, Kfw, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank are backing the project for a total of $900 million. For more on what Morocco has planned go to https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/04/morocco-to-switch-on-first-phase-of-worlds-largest-solar-plant.

 One of the reasons alternative energy has never really taken off in the Middle East is that it, is for the most part, cheaper to use fossil fuels, usually oil, rather than put resources into alternative energy. Masdar City, in Abu Dhabi, is an exception. Masdar is a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, an investment company based in the same emirate, and the Government of Abu Dhabi is reported to have provided most of the seed capital. It’s fascinating to walk around Masdar- narrow loans, electric cars and wind mills. Nothing like the rest of the United Arab Emirates.

 With the emphasis on alternative energy, but largely without the commitment to fulfil it, I was fascinated to read this story in Al-Monitor and Palestine Pulse, about solar-powered mosques in Palestine. Maybe this would catch on in other parts of the Middle East?

 This is what was written. https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/02/palestine-west-bank-solar-energy-mosque.html?utm_campaign=20180209&utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%20Newsletter

Entsar Abu Jahal February 6, 2018