Morocco produced 35 percent of its electricity from renewables

MOROCCO PRODUCED 35 PERCENT of its electrical power in 2018 from renewable energy sources Aziz Rabbah, Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mining and Sustainable Development has said.

Morocco switched on an additional 840 megawatts in 2018, raising the country’s renewable energy capacity to more than 3,677 megawatt, Rabbah told a press conference. This added capacity includes 700 megawatt of solar energy, 1,207 megawatt of wind energy and 1,770 megawatt of hydroelectric energy.

The North African country launched one of the largest solar project, worth $9 billion in 2015 to create 2,000 megawatts of solar generation capacity by the year 2020. Ouarzazate Solar Power Station (OSPS), as the project is popularly called, is Morocco’s energy independence project for a country that imports most of its electricity.

Renewable energies have reduced Morocco’s energy dependence from 98 percent in 2008 to 93 percent currently, mainly due to a rise in renewable energy and by reaching this capacity, Morocco seems on track to meet its foreseeable goal of producing 42 percent of its electrical power from renewable energy by 2020, and its larger aim to produce 52 percent of its electricity from clean energy by 2030.

Rabbah also added that the state will invest over $40 billion in the energy sector by 2030, including in a liquefied natural gas project, allocating $30 billion of the total amount to renewable energy projects.