Nov 1, 2025
Reframing the Regional Conversation
For over a decade, the Middle East and North Africa’s energy narrative has revolved around gigawatts, grids, and geopolitics, a story of scale, yet still incomplete.
From Morocco’s solar corridors to the Gulf’s hydrogen partnerships, progress is undeniable: renewable capacity reached 55.9 gigawatts by 2023, with seven countries accounting for more than 90 percent of new regional projects.
Yet one critical dimension remains outside the frame, how to power fragile and recovery economies where national grids have collapsed or remain politically contested.
Two Tracks, One Region
While stable economies advance ambitious transition agendas, fragile and low-income states remain at the starting line.
In Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, and parts of Syria and Lebanon, energy access is not a climate debate; it is the precondition for survival, essential services, and productive life. This intersects directly with the region’s youth employment dynamics, as explored in our Youth & Jobs for Recovery insight →
If the region’s transition strategy overlooks these contexts, it risks remaining uneven and incomplete.
Defining Energy for Recovery
The concept is simple, but its implications are transformative.
Energy in fragile settings should not be treated as an emergency logistics problem. It should be recognized as an entry point for recovery and local growth.
Distributed renewables: solar mini-grids, hybrid storage, and modular systems, can power clinics, schools, desalination plants, and small enterprises even amid insecurity.
Each local energy node becomes a stabilizing anchor: keeping hospitals open, powering water systems, sustaining livelihoods, and converting humanitarian expenditure into productive capital.
Between 2018 and 2025, building on a decade of implementation through UNIDO and now extending through PALiNVEST, we saw this in practice:
In Gaza, solar systems supported water and health facilities and helped small industrial enterprises stay productive under repeated grid collapse.
In Lebanon, agro-enterprises powered by decentralized solar sustained value chains despite chronic outages.
These are not pilot curiosities. They are proof that small-scale renewables can deliver large-scale resilience when designed for local ownership and maintenance. For a deeper look at how innovation shapes resilience in fragile settings, explore our insight: Innovation in Fragility →
Why It Matters for MENA
MENA cannot speak credibly about climate diplomacy or green industry while its most vulnerable communities remain dependent on diesel and aid.
A complementary Energy for Recovery track would enable the region to:
Localize resilience by training technicians, creating O&M jobs, and embedding clean-energy know-how in communities.
Blend finance and humanitarian budgets by converting recurring diesel costs into investable renewable assets.
Broaden regional leadership by enabling Gulf and regional funds to invest not only in export megaprojects but also in stability infrastructure across neighboring states.
This is not charity; it is strategic insurance for regional social and economic security.
From Vision to Policy
Embedding Energy for Recovery within regional transition frameworks requires three coordinated actions:
Recognize decentralized recovery energy within national plans, NDCs, and reconstruction strategies.
Finance it through dedicated fast-track facilities within Gulf, multilateral, or climate-finance programs.
Coordinate through knowledge and partnership platforms linking IRENA, RCREEE, and regional think tanks to document and scale proven models.
Together, these steps would connect MENA’s macro-transition narrative: clean power, green hydrogen, and investment with the micro-reality of resilience and recovery.
Beyond Energy: An Integrated Vision
Energy for Recovery is one of four pillars of PALiNVEST’s integrated recovery model, alongside Youth and Employment Systems, Innovation and Foresight, and Institutional Architecture. Learn more about our architectural approach in What We Build →
Together, these pillars translate complex recovery challenges into investable, scalable solutions that bridge innovation, finance, and diplomacy.
A Call for a Complete Transition
MENA’s clean-energy transition will ultimately be measured not only by megawatts installed, but by the lives and enterprises sustained through crisis.
When decentralized renewables become standard in recovery planning, the region’s climate story will evolve from ambition to impact.
Because energy that rebuilds lives is the foundation of any lasting peace.
That is the space PALiNVEST operates in: Designing Resilience. Powering Recovery.
Connect With the PALiNVEST Ecosystem
Join practitioners, researchers, and partners contributing to system-level recovery work. Explore the PALiNVEST Network →
About the Author
Ahmed F. ELFARRA
Founder & Managing Director of PALiNVEST and former Head of UNIDO Programme office - Palestine, is a regional strategist and institutional architect advancing recovery, green industry, and sustainable growth across MENA. His work connects climate diplomacy, industrial resilience, and economic renewal to create lasting impact.
Connect with Ahmed on LinkedIn or learn more at www.palinvest.ps.