Morocco to Invest $ 40 billion by 2030 to Develop Energy Sector (Minister)

Manama 18/09/2017 (MAP) – Morocco will invest $ 40 billion by 2030 to develop the energy sector, said here on Sunday Minister of Energy, Mining and Sustainable Development, Aziz Rabbah.

“The Kingdom has succeeded, through an ambitious strategy, to turn its challenges into genuine investment opportunities, through its commitment to projects aimed at developing the energy sector by 2030, 75% of which are devoted to renewable energies,” Rabbah said in a speech at the opening of the first Energy Investment Forum.

The minister noted that the energy transition has begun to bear fruit, adding that the share of wind and solar power in electric power, which was only 2% at the beginning of 2009, reached 13% in 2016.

This transition has reduced the energy dependency rate from 98% in 2008 to 93.3% in 2016, Rabbah noted.

The minister recalled that in 2016, the Noor 1 solar complex began operating with a capacity of 160 MW and a storage for 3 hours of low-light producing capacity.

Morocco is working to strengthen the electricity interconnection with neighbouring countries, in particular the Morocco-Portugal project, which is currently under study, with a capacity of 1,000 MW, and the project of a third interconnection of 700 MW with Spain, as well as other projects with sub-Saharan countries, he said.

The forum, which focused on the latest developments in solar energy and renewable energy, was attended by experts working in the field of energy and investment institutions interested in financing energy projects, along with representatives from the United Nations, diplomatic missions, chambers of commerce and industry of the GCC and other Arab countries.