MEFED24 will open its doors on Sunday, 8 September 2024, at 08:00. The shuttle buses from our partner hotels will departure at 07:45 to Grand Hotel Palace. This allows for sufficient time for attendees to arrive and register. The official start of the program is at 09:30.
Garden Hall
The conference will be opened with welcoming speeches of the two hosting ministers, of H.E. Abdulla Balalaa, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability Affairs of the UAE, the host of COP28, and the Director-General from IRENA, Francesco La Camera. Moderated by Melinda Crane, this will be followed by further keynotes.
Garden Hall
Garden Hall
The cross-regional cooperation between Europe and the MENA region will be central to leveraging resources and developing necessary infrastructure, as neither of the regions will be able to achieve their energy transitions alone. With the moderation by Dr Melinda Crane, the panel is to shed light on necessary actions to unlock the potential of cross-border infrastructure and will examine how MENA-EU energy cooperation can foster the implementation of Europe’s and the MENA region’s energy priorities to achieve the COP Consensus.
Garden Hall
While Europe will be dependent on energy imports to decarbonize its energy system, the MENA region is an incredibly resource-rich region with abundant renewable energy sources, like solar and wind. This holds huge potential for collaboration and mutual benefits. Moderated by Melinda Crane, this high-level panel will analyze how energy relationships between Europe and the MENA region can benefit both regions achieving their energy targets.
Garden Hall
Grace Hall A
Energy cooperation between countries from the MENA region and Europe holds the potential of increasing economic prosperity, reducing GHG emissions and securing a sustainable and affordable supply of renewable energy. However, the prerequisite for this is the availability of electricity interconnectors between the two regions. Moderated by Dr Karoline Steinbacher from Guidehouse, panelists will evaluate the status of the development of cross-border electricity infrastructure projects, identify potential gaps and define necessary actions for accelerated development of EU-MENA electricity interconnectors.
Grace Hall C
Hydrogen and its derivatives pave the way for a successful energy system decarbonization. Building hydrogen value chains offers new opportunities for cooperation whilst ensuring energy system resilience, increased energy independence and security of supply. To enable the trade and transport of hydrogen, several initiatives for EU-MENA hydrogen corridors are already on the way. Drawing from the first-hand experiences of the panelists, moderator Prof Dr Theodoros Tsakiris from the Ministry of Energy and Environment of the Hellenic Republic will assess the progress made already and will identify necessary steps and approaches to accelerate cross-regional hydrogen infrastructure projects.
The Lobby
Grace Hall A
To ensure the successful implementation and timely development of cross-regional and cross-border infrastructure projects, a coordinated and effective mobilization of financing is essential. Financial mechanisms need to be developed to bridge existing financing gaps and reduce risk in a joint effort of the public and private sectors, public and commercial banks and network operators. Moderated by Matteo Fumerio, Team Leader – Energy Security, Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission, the panelists will discuss how this can be facilitated to substantiate the vision of increased energy interconnections between the MENA region and Europe. Reflecting on insights from the financial institutions, the panel will analyze existing financing mechanisms and necessary improvements to increase finance in cross-regional electricity interconnectors and hydrogen corridors.
Grace Hall C
There are numerous examples of cross-regional infrastructure projects, both in the EU and in the MENA region, e.g., the hydrogen corridors in the frame of the European Hydrogen Backbone, ELMED, GREGY. Such interconnectors and hydrogen cor-ridors do not only require technical feasibility and commercial viability but also regulatory frameworks that support their implementation. During this session moderated by Dr Jauad El Kharraz from RCREEE, panelists will unfold main obstacles and lessons learned for planning and permitting procedures to accelerate cross-regional infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on how to integrate infrastructure planning for electricity and molecules.
The Lobby
Grace Hall A
With the COP28 Consensus in Dubai, the international community committed to tripling renewable energy capacities by 2030. While this critical role for renewables is being translated both in national and international energy transitions already, a technical, financial and regulatory framework is essential to allow for the successful integration of renewables in the energy system. Together with panelists, moderator Simon Benmarraze from IRENA will tackle the question, how to better integrate renewables through flexibility, demand-response and smart grids to facilitate the energy transition and create cross-border opportunities.
Grace Hall C
Building hydrogen value chains offers new opportunity for cooperation besides electricity exports and is expected to become a mayor trade flow between the MENA region and the EU. While hydrogen exports become a new trade good for several countries in the MENA region, hydrogen imports are crucial for covering the import demand of European countries. However, enthusiasm for hydrogen develop-ment and trade has been faced with challenges. Assessing the insights and experiences of panelists at the interface between gas-producing and importing companies, with moderator Anne Jacobs-Schleithoff, Head of Division of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany, will investigate questions around challenges to accelerating hydrogen trade between the EU and MENA in infrastructure, coordination and offtake alignments and the potential for future development and the upscaling of hydrogen trade.
The Garden
Grand Hotel Palace