Benjamin Schuetze and Eckart Woertz published an article in the Digest of Middle East Studies. In their paper, Schuetze and Woertz explore the opportunities and challenges of triangular cooperation (TC) in the renewable energy sector between the European Union (EU), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and select hydrocarbon-poor MENA countries. They argue that EU-GCC-MENA TC may enable the expansion of renewables, but it also risks deepening social, economic, and political imbalances.
After analyzing the status of electricity grid interconnection and the production and logistics of green hydrogen, the paper discusses the political and economic interests of involved actors and the extent to which the implementation of renewable energy megaprojects risks reproducing asymmetric dependencies and authoritarian practices.