A brief overview of solar and wind energy in Libya: Current trends and the future development

Abstract

Libya is one of the oil exporters and natural gas exporters to become one of the top lists of primary energy sources in the world. On the other hand, Libya, like other countries in the world suffers from high energy consumption, high conventional energy prices and environment issues, combined with rapid demand growth. As a result, the Renewable Energy Authority of Libya (REAOL) has been founded to promote the development of renewable energy in Libya to increase the utilization of renewable energy from 6% to 10% by the year of 2020. This study corresponds to a revision of the current scenario of energy resources; provide future potential of renewable energy resources in Libya and implementation of the future projects for the utilization of renewable energy. This study shows that there is huge potential for renewable energy in Libya, especially solar and wind. The Libyan government will have to be more aggressive targets to promotion of renewable energy to achieve environmental sustainability in Libya.