LEG1 Linking the European and North African Power Networks

LEG1 project is a Submarine Power Cable of 2,000 MegaWatt capacity extendable to 7,000 MegaWatt, its initial studies have been initiated by . It will allow electricity exchange between Europe and the South-East Mediterranean Countries.
It was assessed and included under Project Of Common Interest list[https://www.entsoe.eu/Documents/TYNDP%20documents/TYNDP%202016/projects/P284.pdf#search=284 (PCI no. 284)] by the .
LEG1 is an integrated project, which serves several purposes that are required both for Europe and for the development of southern/eastern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Africa.
The philosophy and approach are based on the optimization and pooling of energy production between north/east and south/eastern Mediterranean where over 500 million people live; the countries of the southern and eastern of Europe need to secure and diversify its energy sources, and the countries of southern/eastern Mediterranean do not have electric energy with all the consequences of poverty and lack of work which are the main causes of migration to Europe.
The Current European Energy Scene
The EU imports 53% of all the energy it consumes at a cost of more than €1 billion per day.
Specifically, the EU imports:
* 90% of its crude oil
* 66% of its natural gas
* 42% of its coal and other solid fuels
* 40% of its uranium and other nuclear fuels
With its prosperity hinging on a stable and abundant supply of energy, European Commission has set goals for 2020 / 2030 / 2050 as well as adopted the European Energy Security Strategy “EESS’’
European Energy Strategy
The EESS Strategy aims to ensure:
* Maintaining a stable and abundant supply of energy for European citizens.
* Developing electrical grid infrastructure between EU member states and its south neighboring countries.
A focus was directed towards studying the solar production in North Africa along with the means of power exchange between the North and South of the Mediterranean. Two remarkable efforts in this field were achieved namely: DESERTEC in Germany and MEDGRID in France.
The European Energy Security Strategy (EESS) approach to enhance the EU energy security is based on following eight pillars:
# Immediate actions aimed at increasing the EU's capacity to overcome a major disruption during the winter 2014/2015;
# Strengthening emergency/solidarity mechanisms including coordination of risk assessments and contingency plans; and protecting strategic infrastructure;
# Moderating energy demand;
# Building a well-functioning and fully integrated internal market;
# Increasing energy production in the European Union;
# Further developing energy technologies;
# Diversifying external supplies and related infrastructure;
# Improving coordination of national energy policies and speaking with one voice in external energy policy.
LEG1 focuses on pillars 5, 6 and 7.
European Energy Targets by 2020
For more than 20 years, the European Union has consistently been at the forefront of global action to combat climate change.
As an interim step for 2020, the EU set a number of ambitious climate and energy targets known as “20-20-20 targets by 2020” or the “3 x 20” policy. This included pledges to reduce GHG emissions by 20% from 1990 levels, raise the share of EU final energy consumption produced from renewable resources to 20% and improve energy efficiency by 20%.
This 3 x 20 package is part of a wider European energy strategy aimed at achieving energy sustainability, competitiveness and affordability, and security of supply.
The EU energy and climate package has attracted criticism in recent years, however, for failing to bring the expected results and for having had numerous unexpected, or unintended, impacts on energy markets and the industry.
Will Europe reach its 20-20-20 Goal?
Many countries are on track to meet their 3 x 20 targets. The EU-28 as a whole has made considerable progress towards realizing the set objectives. But whether this is mainly due to dedicated policies or to external factors is highly questionable. The economic crisis has led achievements to look better than they are really are. In countries such as Italy, the Netherlands and Spain the crisis has reduced the demand and consumption levels against which the targets are measured.
Any improvement in EU business activity could rapidly push CO2 emissions up and reverse the good trajectory that most countries seem now to be on. Nuclear phase-outs and a potential rise in coal-fi red capacities are creating uncertainties that could also make the achievement of the CO2 target problematic as 2020 approaches.
Today, it is hard to see how the objective of reaching 20% of renewable energy use in final consumption will be met: major EU economies (including France and the UK) still need to make significant efforts to meet their targets. In addition, since the final REN target for 2020 is expressed as a percentage of final energy consumption in 2020, reaching the renewable energy target will depend critically on the denominator of the ratio, i.e. final energy consumption in 2020, something which it will not be possible to determine until after 2020.
Moreover, policies supporting renewable energies have been very costly: in Germany, the renewable energy sector is currently subsidized with approximately EUR 19.4 billion per year (EUR 240 per inhabitant in 2014); and in France, the global cost for the support of renewables in power production is estimated to be around EUR 40.5 billion for the 2012-2020 period. Some of these costs still lie ahead of several Member States and will further increase tariffs in the future. And, last but not least, the foreknowledge of this cost overhang and the decrease in public sector expenditure in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis has slowed progress in this area.
The bases for measuring the energy efficiency objectives are so variable that it will be hard to say whether the target has been met or not. Currently, EU energy efficiency targets are expressed in all sorts of ways for each Member State, using different units, based on different assumptions and with varying levels of ambition. The relative targets expressed in energy savings are most often calculated ex post. In a nutshell, it took a long time to define criteria which are difficult-to-understand and measure and may not be met in the end. The key question is whether they are going to reduce EU energy consumption or the EU economy’s energy intensity other than as a result of economic contraction.
After making the necessary studies of social and economic in the southern / Eastern Mediterranean countries in terms of electrical energy and social development, Green Power 2020 decided to start this interconnection project, taking into consideration the following aspects:
* The international political authorities will implement an energy transition program to renewable energy with fewer CO2.
* The dependence of Eastern Europe countries upon one energy source, and the negative consequences of this dependence on geopolitically in Europe and the Western world as a whole.
* The development of human southern / eastern Mediterranean societies, with common interests (Europe and southern countries) such as:
# Creating a power exchange between the north and the south of Mediterranean in terms of seasons, (fewer CO2, 500 million people in the region of Eastern Europe and southern / eastern Mediterranean);
# Developing in the southern / eastern region the production of renewable energy, mainly solar and sharing the energy produced (securing and diversifying energy sources on both sides);
# Integrating locally small and medium-sized companies so as to manufacture some equipment, ultimately resulting in job creation and migration limitation.
In order to achieve these objectives, France joined by the 26 European countries and Egypt joined by 22 countries of the Arab League launched the Union for the Mediterranean (UFM) in July 2008. The Chart of the Union for the Mediterranean was validated and signed on July 13, 2008 by the 43 countries.
Interconnections and Regional Grids
South and East countries of the Mediterranean have fairly begun to set up the network of interconnections, which will adequately meet their future requirements. However, the situation leaves room for significant increases of the projects between these countries and also definitely needs to include cross-Mediterranean submarine interconnection, as LEG1 one, with Europe.
* One of the main interconnections project is the ELTAM on which strengthens the lines from Egypt and Libya to Maghreb countries.
* Egypt will also be linked to the GCC interconnection project through Saudi Arabia by land DC cable of 3000 MW in 2017.
* In the eastern countries of the Mediterranean, numerous power grid interconnection projects already exist and many new projects are proposed, through EIJLLPST (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey) Eight Country interconnection project, Israel can be connected to Aqaba (5 km) and/or to Egypt in parallel with the gas pipeline.
In addition to power cooperation mentioned above, LEG1 offers the opportunity to highlight the strategic position of Egypt-Libya-Greece axis to connect Europe and the various projects EIJLLPST, Africa by Nile River, GCC interconnection will take benefit from a direct short 347 km path in the Mediterranean Sea.
LEG1 interconnection is therefore designed for increasing power transfer efficiency with larger volume of power exchange between the two continents. As Morocco-Spain interconnection is a success in the West, LEG 1 between Egypt-Libya-Greece will be another success in the Centre East of the Mediterranean.
* The HV link between Tobruk (Libya) and Saloum (Egypt) is part of the strengthening scheme between the two countries in the South MEDRING or EIJLLPST, GCC project;
* The HV link between Taba (Egypt) to Aqaba (Jordan) will be repowered from AC to DC increasing the capacity up to 1GW;
* High capacity interconnection will link Egypt and Arabia through 3 GW line;
* LEG1 interconnector can link Egypt and Libya to Europe, Europe to Eastern Africa via Egypt and/ via Libya (Al Jaghbub Solar Area) to Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Uganda … through Nil River by sub water cable.
Through all these interconnections, Libya and Greece will become an electrical exchange place in the center of the Euro Mediterranean power system, which will provide the
Empowering The Mediterranean Electricity Market
Beside the current successful electricity trading via the interconnection between Morocco and Spain, once LEG1 is in place, European Member-states electricity supplier will benefit from sales of power to constantly growing demand in SEMC markets and the North Mediterranean existing excess generation capacity will be better utilized. This will not only increase the rate of return on investment on these assets but also contribute to the recovery of the economy from the current recession. Besides, it will help consolidate future economic development of Greece and South and East Mediterranean countries, and generate employment opportunities in this region.
In this context, LEG1 will generate other economic benefits. Remote energy resources like wind, solar and power can be more quickly developed. Libya, Greece and Egypt, where these potential of RES resources are abundant but which are in dire economic situation could benefit from the increased business opportunities which include: the supply of locally manufactured equipment and technology, employment, tax revenue from investment and operation of the facilities and foreign exchange savings. LEG1 provides opportunities to support region-al economic development.
LEG1 would also be able to provide added value pool of operational support and additional reserve capacity, which would otherwise demand additional investment for each of the North and South power systems involved.
* Complementary daily or seasonal load curves in an interconnected system could facilitate peak load shaving.
* Traditionally, the power industry is considered as a “natural monopoly” due to a number of technical and economic constraints. But theoretically, free trade could allow benefits of efficiency to be shared between the supplier and user. European and Southern countries are motivated to increase inter-state connections. They would help promote and facilitate competition in power supply business and also help extend the regional infrastructure and market restructuring.
* Environmental protection could become an important factor in the decision making for cross border LEG1 power interconnection, considering the European objectives regarding RES and sustainable objectives for the Mediterranean region.
Although there are several aspects that appear to justify regional electricity trade and cross-border integration in the region, they are likely to impose a number of restrictions to the viable model. Identified below the main characteristics of the region’s electricity system that provide the foundation of a robust business model for Sub-Mediterranean interconnection and associated features needs to be designed.
Firstly, electricity systems of the countries in the basin show strong complementarity in the NEMCs and the SEMCs. The main driver for electricity exchange in EU-MENA is the exceptional demand growth in the south, caused mostly by demographic and macroeconomic reasons. By linking countries and regions, interconnections allow the optimisation of electricity supplies, which can improve efficiency and may reduce the need for domestic investment in high-cost generation capacity and back- up. In addition, stagnating demand in Europe is creating significant excess capacity in many NMCs. This leads to a situation that, unlike some projections depicting a south to north flow, foresees under almost all conditions the EU countries being the net exporters in the basin to satisfy growing demand in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco (L’Abbate et al., 2014). This flow might eventually revert after 2050 under the assumption that the RES potential in the south is fully exploited. The expected direction of electricity flow has consequences for the definition of the IC’s business model because it affects the distribution of the price and volume risk between the parties involved.
Secondly, the generation mix currently shows a great dependency on gas and fossil fuels in the SEMCs, whereas Europe has developed a mixed portfolio of different sources. This difference is likely to underpin the opportunities for mutual gains in the short and medium run. In particular, interconnection (and the ability to acquire power through trade) might allow individual countries to have lower reserve requirements, which reduces the need (and the cost) for investment in reserve capacity.
Finally, renewed attention for the need for greater diversification of energy sources after the 2006 and 2009 Russia-Ukraine gas disputes has led to greater pressure to secure electricity cooperation with the south (Vantaggiato, 2016). Although the EU has emphasized the development of the internal energy market (IEM), Cambini and Rubino (2016) have demonstrated that market integration is perceived as a more significant driver than rules harmonization. In practice, this means better adaptation of the prevailing liberalized model developed in the EU with the existing neo-realist approach (Escribano, 2010) widespread in North Africa. Typically, in these systems, “national champions”, traditionally supported by governments, dominate the domestic markets, in which there is only a narrow, or no role, for competition. In the electricity sector and in the Mediterranean region these two paradigms coexist.
Exchange, Seasonality & Complementary
Power flow and exchange through the vertical interconnections between the north and south of the Mediterranean are naturally depending on the climate of both Europe and North Africa; summer / winter demand references are as follows:
* From November to April electricity flows from Libya, Egypt, Saudi, Jordan… to Europe where heat
* From May to October to channel the electricity produced in Europe to North Africa and Middle East where it is needed especially for air-conditioning.
East-Mediterranean Sea Challenges:
The challenge of connecting the European Grid to the Mediterranean has always been the East-Mediterranean Sea. It posed many challenges that made it difficult for HVDC Submarine Cables to pass through. However, once the connection happens, it will unlock seamless electricity exchange between Europe and North Africa.
Underwater Studies
has completed the initial studies for LEG1 to connect Greece to Libya (Tobruk) and Egypt (Salloum) by a 2,000 MW HVDC Submarine Power Cable. Underwater studies have determined the shortest and most economic path through the Mediterranean Sea.
Path Calculation Software
GreenPower2020 technical team created an algorithm using Mathematica as a platform and METADATA from GEBCO and IFERMER. After 8 years, several viable routes for LEG1 submarine cable were determined, that do not go deeper than 2500 meters.
ENTSO-E Approval
On 23 June 2016 the has approved all studies and LEG1 project was subsequently listed under the [https://www.entsoe.eu/major-projects/ten-year-network-development-plan/ten%20year%20network%20development%20plan%202016/Pages/default.aspx Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP 2016)] as [https://www.entsoe.eu/Documents/TYNDP%20documents/TYNDP%202016/projects/P284.pdf#search=284 Project 284].
This success has opened the way for investment financing and financial assistance as a future Project of Common Interest (PCI) through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). Which will help the project become a reality.
LEG1 Strategic Benefits
* Electricity exchange between Europe and the Middle East serving 1 billion people.
* Socio-economic developments in the Mediterranean region and Eastern Africa.
* More profoundly, Middle East countries will be positioned as the renewable energy powerhouse for Europe for the next hundred years.
Future Stages
Connecting the European Grid to North Africa unlocks the possibility of powering up all of Europe using only clean energy.
A study led by DESERTEC shows that Africa is one of the perfect spots to install solar panels and potentially power up the entire world using only clean, sustainable energy.
Once LEG1 is operational, The world will be able to:
* Integrate LEG1 to the South Eastern Mediterranean Countries Grid;
* Participate in power generation with emphasis on renewables;
* Extend the grid to East Africa connecting the Nile basin countries in the framework of the energy internet project;
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