A detailed North African HVDC grid for a pan-European-North African electricity exchange

Renewable energy (RE) has been chosen as an alternative to reduce fossil fuel and eliminate generation by nuclear power. The North African (NA) region has a vast potential for RE sources. The RE potential even exceeds the local demand, thus it has the potential to be exported to the Europe Union (EU). However, implementing such a pan-European-North African electricity exchange implies substantial challenges for the transmission grid infrastructure. An HVDC grid is chosen as the best alternative to transmit a huge amount of electricity over long distances. A detailed model is required to understand the HVDC grid behavior. Therefore, this paper presents the model of an HVDC grid for electricity exchange between NA and the EU. The paper defines the number of interconnectors, location of converter stations and transmission lines for the time horizon 2050.