Four EU member states – Germany, France, Spain and Portugal – have signed a roadmap with Morocco “for sustainable electricity trade” across the Mediterranean. The roadmap was signed on the sidelines of COP 22, in the presence of Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, on Thursday 17 November.
The Moroccan and the European Union electricity grids are already “partially interconnected through Spain”, share common technical standards and are synchronised, the roadmap notes.
The interconnection is expected to be strengthened and extended to Portugal. The aim is to provide electricity to the European internal market once the necessary infrastructure has been put in place. The signatories’ intention is to provide the conditions to make it possible to trade solar generated electricity between Morocco and the European market. The issue of cost and differences in terms of legislation and standards even within the single energy market have hitherto discouraged plans, in particular Germany’s DII (Desertec Industrial Initiative) project, which has been shelved. Incremental planning of the integration in order to ensure fair trade in this energy is promised.
Cañete, whose presence at the signing can be seen as a guarantee for the future, said he was “proud to witness the signature of an agreement which creates a path for integrating more renewable electricity in (European) electricity systems”. He was referring to the previous project to encourage the export of “green” electricity generated on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, an area blessed with great sunshine, to a European market looking to buy. The same intention features among those announced in the new roadmap.
The commissioner underlined the value of cross-border cooperation such as this, “linking electricity systems” between the two banks of the Mediterranean Sea. The document signed in Marrakesh “is a first concrete step in this direction”.
EIB also engages in “green” Euro-Mediterranean electricity. Morocco also features among the countries to receive support from the European Investment Bank. The Bank announced on Thursday, also at COP 22, its increased backing for the Green for Growth Fund to enable new investment in the sector. The “expanded geographic engagement” will strengthen support in small-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy projects across North Africa, including in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories. (Original version in French by Fathi B’Chir)