In recent years, the SEMCs undertook to interconnect their power networks in order to further develop electricity exchanges. Among them, several interconnections are already in operation. This report describes the electricity interconnections in the Mediterranean region, including the ones which have been recently commissioned.


In addition to the existing interconnections, namely those of the Maghreb, Algeria is already interconnected to Tunisia (4 connections) and to Morocco (2 connections), recent connections were brought into service, including those linking Spain to Morocco, Libya to Egypt, Egypt to Jordan, and Syria to Jordan and Lebanon.


Several new interconnection projects are under way linking Morocco to Algeria (third connection), Algeria to Tunisia (fifth connection), Tunisia to Libya, Libya to Egypt, Syria to Turkey, and Turkey to Greece. Concerning the interconnections presently planned at 220 kV, their voltage is planned to be increased to 400 kV at a later stage.


With the start-up of the Spain-Morocco link in 1997, the two Mediterranean shores are already interconnected. In the future, the interconnection of the two shores will be further strengthened with the doubling of the Spain-Morocco line, the new undersea cable from Algeria to Spain and the interconnection projects Turkey-Greece, Algeria-Italy and Tunisia-Italy.


The new projects will enable major SEMCs to interconnect as well as to connect with the European network following the completion of the "electrical loop" around the Mediterranean in 2008. OME participated to the «MedRing» study related to the behaviour of the "Mediterranean electrical loop" which is supported by the European Commission. The MedRing project (26 months study) is completed in May 2003.


Thanks to the completion of “the Mediterranean electrical loop”, an increase in Mediterranean electricity exchanges is expected by 2010. According to the estimations of the MedRing study, power exchange will increase from the 69 TWh in 2005 to 75 TWh by 2010.
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The DG GRID project’s objectives are proposing regulatory innovations to improve the penetration of distributed electricity generation (production which is directly injected into distribution networks) on the European market. The aim is to suggest concrete measures which are compatible with the existing electricity markets organisation in the 15 member states (before enlargement). OME’s contribution consists in analysing the regulation of distributed generation in France and Italy and participating to the elaboration of regulatory innovations on the basis of a cost/benefit analysis of a broader development of small generation units. Hide

REPORT AVAILABLE IN NON OME DOCUMENTS


EURELECTRIC and UCTE, a body which coordinates the operation and development of the electricity transmission system on the European mainland, and the SYSTMED and SYSTINT Expert Groups have drawn up a new report* setting out the current position with regard to the development of electricity interconnection on the European and Eurasian continent and the Mediterranean basin.


Providing information on existing and potential projects in this field, this report will serve as a valuable aid to all those in industry, business, finance and policymaking circles involved with the challenges of interconnection development in the broad European and Mediterranean area.


Updating two previous reports 2002 (Systint) and 2003 (Systmed report entitled “Mediterranean Interconnection: State of the Art 2003’’ ) on the subject, this 2nd edition entitled ‘’European, CIS and Mediterranean Interconnection: State of Play 2004 » and published in February 2005, sets out extensive data and figures from the year 2003–2004. It begins with a short introduction to the history of electricity interconnections in Europe, before going on to provide an overview of the current status of the interconnected electric system, covering the various power systems - UCTE, UK, NORDEL, CIS-Baltic UPS/IPS - plus Turkey, the South-Eastern and South-Western Mediterranean Blocks and Mediterranean Isolated Systems.


The report summarises the driving forces behind the development of interconnections, noting that while the original reasons that led to the current state of interconnection related mainly to ensuring security of supply, the picture is now changing, with both commercial and political motives coming more into play. The report lists the current and potential projects in this field.


In their conclusions, the authors identify three powerful movements which are shaping the structure and functioning of the European electricity sector: the ongoing liberalisation process, which calls for further reinforcement of the network, especially in terms of cross-border transmission capacity; possible expansion of the current UCTE synchronous area eastwards and southwards; and large-scale capture of renewable energy. The conclusions also look at challenges and obstacles facing development of electricity infrastructure.


The annex contains a compilation of 49 individual country contributions, detailing the structure of each country’s electricity industry, the main actors, the status of interconnections and envisaged development, and providing basic information on the electricity market structure.


The report was drawn up by members of the groups SYSTINT and SYSTMED.


The SYSTMED working group, set up in 1993 by the former UNIPEDE (EURELECTRIC now), in agreement with MEDELEC has contributed to the elaboration of the report.


The SYSTINT working group, originally set up in 1990, function within the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in October 2000 between EURELECTRIC and UCTE, as a joint working group of the two associations.
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In the past few years, the energy world has experienced a movement of restructuring aimed at opening up to competition and privatising the electricity and gas sectors - traditionally monopolistic and under the control of states. This process, which emerged in industrialised countries, now also concerns Mediterranean countries. Under the pressure of the international environment and of economic constraints, several Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries have opened up electricity generation to the private sector and tend to apply competitive models to their gas and electricity industries.

This study proposes an analysis of the reasons and the implications of the current institutional developments in the electricity and gas sectors. It reviews energy policies and the state of reforms in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries as of 2004.

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The main objectives of the MedRing Study are to: I- assess the static and dynamic security of the whole Mediterranean grid; II- assess the economical power exchanges among Mediterranean Countries; and III- define possible future network scenarios.

The study identifies the economic benefits of the Ring, detects operational difficulties and constraints, and defines solutions to address them. The consortium in charge of the study concluded that the Ring is viable, provided that the technical solutions proposed to overcome operational difficulties are adopted. It also clarified that the savings resulting from the "closure" (completion) of the Ring would be significantly higher than the conservative figures announced in the study ($300 million per year until 2010). Overall, the closure could allow savings of several billion dollars over the entire life of the new interconnections. All of these economic results (and expected energy and power exchanges in the Mediterranean area: horizon 2005/2010) are detailed in the report on the "Cost/Benefit Analysis of the Interconnection Projects of the Mediterranean Countries" (based on the OME scenario of fuel prices).

The results of the study were presented at a conference organised by Eurelectric and Medelec, together with the OME and the UCTE on July 9th, 2003 in Rome. It gathered top industry representatives from most Mediterranean countries, the European Commission & Council officials.

The programme of the conference and the presentations of the different communications are available in the section restricted to the members or also on the site web of Eurelectric (www.eurelectric.org by selecting the site ‘’Past Eurelectric Events”) or on the web site of Medelec.
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This report describes major IPP projects in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) and analyses the conditions for their implementation and development. To meet growing electricity demand, the SEMCs will have to install additional capacity. The institutional framework is increasingly geared at encouraging foreign investment in the sector through independent power production such as concession regimes, BOT, BOOT or BOO schemes. As a result, over 21,000 MW in IPP projects had been awarded to private consortia and 14,700 MW had reached financial closure


The main IPP projects on a country per country basis include:

• In Morocco: the Jorf Lasfar coal fired power plant, the wind farm in Tetouan and the Tahadart Natural Gas Combined Cycle plant planned for 2004.

• In Algeria: constructions of IPP power plants. An IPP project for a power plant with desalination is to be built at Arzew, a new natural gas combined cycle IPP projects in Tipaza, Oran, Annaba and Jijel.

• In Tunisia: the Rades Combined Cycle plant by CPC. A second BOO project at Barca is planned for 2006.

• In Libya : no IPP projects but there is an important plan to build new power plant projects in West mountain Benghazi Zawia Tripoli west I Golf Tripoli west II and Misurata steel II

• In Egypt: by 2010, the future equipment program involves mainly gas-fired projects for 60% by independent power production (under the BOOT scheme and by EEHC).

• In Turkey: 13 BOT include 5 large scale BOT projects: the 2 NGCC at Marmara, the cogeneration at Esenyurt, the NGCC at Gebze and the large hydro BOT at Birecik. Fifteen other BOT projects concern mostly wind projects and cogeneration projects.
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This study reviews the major technological options for fossil fuel-based technologies for power plants to be commissioned in 2000 and in 2010/2015, focusing in particular on the expected technological progress concerning natural gas based technologies (gas turbines and combined cycles) and coal/oil based technologies (ultra-supercritical steam cycles, atmospheric and pressurised fluidised bed plants, integrated gasification combined cycles).

Costs, thermal efficiencies and environmental characteristics are discussed, and the driving forces and limitations for each technological option is shown. Special consideration is given to developing countries. The study also analyses a case study for the Mediterranean countries for which a long-term scenario for power generation is elaborated (2000-2010-2020). The results of the study have been presented at the 18th World Energy Congress in Buenos Aires, 21-25 October 2001; Hide

Natural gas reserves are increasingly remote from the consumption centers. Given current technology, it is possible to either transport the natural gas via a gas pipeline to the consumption centers and produce the electricity there, or build the power plants next to the gas fields and transmit the electricity via high-voltage power lines to the consumption centers. This study compares these two energy vectors (electricity transmission versus natural gas transport) from a techno-economic point of view. This comprehensive analysis is carried out as a function of the energy flows to be transported, the distance, the well-head price of gas, the discount rate and other relevant parameters. Environmental issues are also discussed.


The aim of this study is to evaluate the conditions favouring one option over the other. This study was carried out for the World Bank and presented at their “Energy Week 99” in Washington, 6-9 April 1999. An update was presented at the 16th World Petroleum Conference in Calgary, June 11-15 2000. Hide

The choice of power generation technology and fuel depends on the availability and price of the different resources, the availability of capital for investment, the environmental legislation, and the institutional and political framework. As far as Mediterranean countries are concerned, natural gas based power generation and cogeneration seem to have plenty of advantages, given the large low cost natural gas reserves available, the fact that these technologies are a least cost option for these countries as well as their low environmental impact.


This study reviews briefly the major technological options for fossil-based power generation, describes their functioning, their environmental impact, and the experience with these technologies in the Mediterranean countries. An economic analysis, comparing the different power generation options is carried out. Also, the cogeneration technologies and their potential in Mediterranean countries is addressed. Finally, the future market potential for natural gas-fired power generation and cogeneration is addressed, as well as some remaining barriers for the implementation of these technologies in the Mediterranean region. Hide

Studies
Hydrocarbons Sector






Background document on "The development of energy projects in the mediterranean region " prepared for the meeting of the Presidents in Cannes, November 1998

FULL TEXT IS AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS ONLY







The report aims at better understanding the energy problems and at presenting important issues that will be addressed at the Meeting of the Presidents in Cannes. It provides a background on the following themes:

- main developments in the institutional framework in the sectors of hydrocarbons and electricity in the Mediterranean countries;

- inventory of the main oil, gas and electricity projects in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries;

- decisions adopted at the Kyoto Conference regarding reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and to the possible consequences of the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on the energy industry;

- the situation of the ongoing co-operation between the European Union and the Mediterranean partner countries in the energy sector, its general framework and the principal co-operation agreements.
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