Rachid Bayed, Director at the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), gave an update on European aid for the development of solar energy in Morocco, during an interview with EUROPE on Friday 23 November 2018.
Mr Bayed welcomed “a strong signal for the promotion of solar energy in Africa”, citing the massive investments made by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission, through the Neighbourhood Investment Facility.
European investments in this area have focused on the NOOR site, located near Ouarzazate, on which three solar power plants have been built.
According to MASEN figures, the EIB has invested €250 million in loans since 2012. The Commission, for its part, has made available more than €100 million in the form of grants.
Mr Bayed also stressed the massive participation of other financial actors such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the French Development Agency and the German Development Bank KfW.
The third power plant, known as NOOR III, needs to be tested before the energy produced can be marketed. It will be inaugurated by King Mohammed VI.
Future investments
Morocco's ambition is to build the NOOR Midelt power plant, which will become the largest multi-technology solar complex in the world by 2030. The overall production capacity of this project is expected to reach 1,600 MW: 600 MW in CSP (solar thermal) and 1,000 MW in PV (photovoltaic), according to MASEN.
The same financial actors should participate in this project, the financing of which is currently under discussion.
The EIB has reportedly increased its intervention in the project from USD 200 million to USD 420 million, according to the Moroccan newspaper L'Economiste.
The Commission has confirmed to EUROPE a €60 million grant for this project.
‘Regional interconnection platform’
These solar infrastructure projects are part of a global strategy to make Morocco a leading player in clean energy in Africa and Europe.
"We want to position ourselves as a regional interconnection platform by strengthening transit infrastructures with Spain and Algeria", explained Mr Bayed, emphasising the interest of Portugal and Mauritania.
Morocco, supported by the EU, thus wishes to create the prospect of a “clean electricity exchange with the North that can take place in both directions”. Interconnection will thus make it possible to "increase the competitiveness of suppliers by putting them in competition", Mr Bayed said.
Finally, the MASEN project manager cited the roadmap for the import into the EU of 'green' electricity produced in Morocco, signed by Morocco with several Member States - Germany, France, Spain, Portugal - in the presence of the Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, on the occasion of COP 22, held in Marrakesh (see EUROPE 11670).
"A concrete example of strengthening EU/Morocco cooperation in terms of clean energy”, according to Mr Bayed. (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal)