Policy shifts over climate change as countries seek to diversify energy sources have opened investment opportunities for renewables in the Middle East and North Africa or Mena the head of UAE green energy firm Masdar said.

Countries in the region are increasingly setting renewable energy targets in their energy mix as demand grows serving as a boost for investments in solar and wind power ventures Masdar's chief executive Ahmad Belhoul told Reuters in Paris.

"A few years back when Abu Dhabi set a target of seven per cent of renewable energy by 2020 nobody in the region had any renewable energy target. Today there are targets being set in Jordan Morocco etc" Belhoul said in an interview. "What we have noticed is that over the past couple of years there has been significant interest by many governments in renewable energies. We have seen many policy changes that allow investors to come in" he said.

Masdar owned by Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala was set up with a $15 billion commitment to invest in green energy. Belhoul said Masdar through its private equity arm that manages two funds had deployed over half a billion dollars invested in green projects with a portfolio of about 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy. Its investments include a 35 per cent stake in the planned Dudgeon offshore wind farm in Britain with Norwegian partners Statoil and Statkraft. It also has a 20 per cent share in the 600-megawatt London Array the world's largest wind farm.

Belhoul said investments in mature markets such as Britain and Spain where it has also invested in a joint venture with Spain's Sener were balanced out with investments in developing markets in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Our strategy over the next five years is the MENA region plus selected investments in mature markets" he said adding that Abu Dhabi and the rest of the UAE were immediate priorities. "If you look at how the sector has evolved prices are becoming increasingly competitive" he said. "Solar cells for example even in the UAE with our local gas are more competitive than gas." Belhoul said Morocco was attracting huge attention and investments.

"The Moroccan government has set a target and they are following through quite systematically it is a very mature market and quite competitive. We are closely looking at it" he said adding that Masdar had bid for projects in the country.

Electricity demand in Morocco rises by an annual 7 percent and the country is investing heavily in renewables. Earlier this month Morocco secured a $519 million loan from the World Bank partly to finance two solar power plants with a combined capacity of up to 350 megawatts. - Reuters