In November 2009 Morocco -- the only North African country with no indigenous oil resources, as well as the only one to have a power cable linking it to Europe -- announced it will install 2 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2020.

The first of its five planned CSP stations will be a 500-megawatt plant in the southern town of Ouarzazate. Morocccan energy minister Amina Benkhadra says Morocco has already received expressions of interest from several large foreign companies.

When finished in 2020, the five solar plants will account for 38% of Morocco’s total installed power-generation capacity, while covering 20% of its total electricity requirements.

Morocco is sharpening its elbows to compete with neighbouring North African countries Algeria, Tunisia and Libya for a slice of the €400bn ($573.8bn) bonanza expected to come from the Desertec Industrial Initiative.

In July 2009 a dozen mainly German companies -- including major renewables players such as E.ON, Siemens and RWE -- launched their vision for Desertec.

The project calls for a vast array of wind farms, PV parks, and concentrating solar power projects to be built across North Africa capable of providing 15% of Europe’s electricity requirements.

In the months since the Desertec announcement North African leaders have been scrambling to shore up their green credibility.

Algeria recently announced a target of sourcing 5% of its electricity from renewables by 2015. Shortly thereafter Algeria’s state-controlled electricity and gas company Sonelgaz said it will spend $100m building a solar-module factory by 2012 with an initial annual capacity of 50 megawatts.