Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the project ran from 2009 to 2014 and was coordinated by the Institute of Solar Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The aim of enerMENA was to provide knowledge and practical experience to CSP specialists and stakeholders in the MENA region. This region has a huge potential for the implementation of such technology due to its excellent solar resource conditions.
The enerMENA project took essential steps to prepare the ground towards a sustainable realization of CSP power plants in the MENA region. It included R&D activities to develop efficiency improvement measures and offers professional training courses for different target groups. With its training program enerMENA addressed engineers and technicians as well as researchers, University professors and students in the partner countries.
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) worked jointly with over 45 partners from Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan to realize the objectives of the enerMENA project. Among the partners were engineers, skilled workers, and decision makers at energy centers, national energy agencies, universities, engineering companies and related ministries.
With its broad proposal of training courses, technical support and R&D projects, the enerMENA project strengthened the EU-MENA partnership in the field of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and brought all stakeholders into an advanced stage of cooperation.
A network of CSP professionals and specialists was established to coordinate future activities. Today, this network continues its work and DLR remains committed to spreading the know-how of CSP technologies to the countries of the sunbelt region.