Marruecos refuerza su apuesta por la transición energética
Morocco continues to accelerate the pace of its energy transition. In a latest move, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development Laila Benali, in her aim to support the fulfilment of sustainable goals, said Morocco would be cooperating with regional powers to "achieve energy security".
During a question session in the House of Representatives, Benali stressed the need to continue attracting investments and technology transfers to increase "special capacities" in order to achieve energy self-sufficiency. This plan for greater autonomy coincides with the current gas supply crisis in Algeria and Morocco. Following the closure of the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, the supply crisis goes a step further after Algeria banned Spain from reselling its gas to Rabat, complicating the situation and further aggravating the crisis.
At present, according to the minister, Morocco's energy dependency rate on the outside world has decreased by around 3.3 points, which translates into "an important achievement for the national economy". Even so, dependence remains high, with a final record of 90% in the year 2020.
According to data issued by the ministry, renewable energies are currently at a peak, with 50 renewable energy projects underway, representing "37% of electricity capacity". He also indicated that there are 61 projects under development with a total capacity of 4,037 megawatts, at a cost of almost 52 million dirhams. With this investment, it is expected that these projects will achieve around 50 per cent of their capacity by 2025.
In addition, in order to promote renewable energy in the agricultural sector, 40,000 solarised water pumping systems have been set up. In addition, it has announced the installation of 60 electric vehicle charging stations, which would be part of a project that is expected to set up another 100 charging stations by 2022.
In order to achieve sustainable mobility and the use of electric means of transport, Benali said that a feasibility study has been carried out with the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies and the Research Institute for Solar and Renewable Energies.
In relation to public lighting, Benali indicated that "we are working in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior on a programme to develop energy efficiency" in a new plan in which it is hoped to reduce electricity consumption by 40% by 2030.
These projects are part of the national energy efficiency strategy, which aims to achieve energy savings of 24%, 22%, 17% and 13% in the transport, industry, building, agriculture, and public lighting sectors.
Even so, Benali assures that Morocco has not yet reached the "level of the country's aspirations" and that more "collective action" is needed to achieve the proposed objectives of preserving the environment, generalising access to resources and promoting hydrocarbons.
As for the most important energy indicators during 2020, a decreasing rate of prices has been recorded, which have experienced a 34% drop, a drop attributed to "the fall in the value of imports of energy materials, especially diesel and fuels, which is explained by the decrease in the average price of imports".
