Aumento en las exportaciones de electricidad de Marruecos
Morocco has come out on top in 2021 in terms of electricity exports. The latest reports reveal that last year the Alawi country has recovered from the effects of the pandemic and its consequences, so the increase in both production and exports of electricity have grown significantly. On the export side, energy sales increased by 36.5%, a very good figure for the Kingdom's trade.
During the last year, foreign trade in the sector has seen an improvement in exports, but experts point out that the opposite is true for imports. The purchase of electricity would have fallen by 19.6%, as this last year the Maghreb country would have observed a clear net energy growth of 5.6%. This means that, due to Morocco's high energy production, there has been no need to buy electricity from other countries and the Kingdom has been able to supply itself with energy in a more self-sufficient way. It is important to highlight the fact that the volume of exported energy has far exceeded the volume of imported energy, with a figure of almost 24%.
It should be noted that, in 2021, the balance of foreign trade in electricity has been in surplus for the second year in a row, so the revenue collection capacity has been much higher than the expenditure on energy production.
In the case of production, the Alawi kingdom has also recorded a considerable improvement. The Moroccan electricity industry has increased its resources and managed to recover and grow by 5.3%. This growth has mainly come from private sector companies in charge of electricity production. Morocco's Directorate of Studies and Financial Forecasts (DEPF) notes in its latest economic note that ONEE (the Moroccan National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water) was the largest producer of electricity, accounting for 11.9% of total electricity production, while in the case of renewable energy, its work accounted for 5.2% of the total.
On the other hand, more electricity has also been consumed over the last year. According to the data, Moroccans consumed 5.5% more electricity in 2021. Moreover, compared to 2019, this last year registered a growth of 3.6% and 31,957 gigawatt hours (GWh) were consumed. In 2019, only around 30,836 GWh were consumed.
This new data reflects the good economic situation after the ravages of the coronavirus and the decline suffered in 2020 in this sector. The Directorate of Finance and External Finance (DTFE) of the Ministry of Finance notes that, at the end of 2020, electricity production fell by more than 4.1%, a worrying figure after picking up a 17.2% increase in 2019.
The health crisis has hit this sector, which is responsible for generating and producing electricity, hard. Likewise, national electricity production has seen a very worrying decline. ONEE decreased its production by 13.8% and electricity demand decreased to -1.4% in the last quarter of 2020. In addition, the territory's energy consumption fell by 1.8% at the end of 2020.
Producing electricity in Morocco is starting to be a booming trend. Above all, by the most renewable and clean energies, as the country's weather and climate conditions make it a perfect place for it. Such is the interest in production that even the Moroccan government has adopted a legal measure that would allow anyone residing in the Kingdom to produce their own electricity. This could be dedicated to covering their own needs, but they could also offer a partnership with the national electricity grid and join the system. According to Mustapha Baïtas, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, the aim is to regulate the production of electricity for self-consumption.