Morocco Determined to Accelerate Pace of Energy Transition (Minister)

Rabat – Morocco is determined to accelerate the pace of energy transition to achieve energy sovereignty, said Monday in Rabat the minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali.

The Kingdom is working to meet the objectives of sustainable development and energy strategy in addition to renewable energy, said the minister in response to a question at the House of Representatives (lower house).

Morocco is also determined to give a new dynamism to several projects and reforms related to energy efficiency in key areas to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent by 2030, she added.

In accordance with the High Instructions of HM King Mohammed VI, the Kingdom seeks to achieve the objectives of the National Energy Strategy, after having revised upwards its ambition in terms of renewable energy, exceeding the current target of 52 pc of the national electricity mix by 2030.

The minister said that efforts are currently focused in each region of the Kingdom, as an important pillar to drive resources and investments, for the transfer of technology and the achievement of energy security, recalling the High Instructions of HM the King to consolidate the exemplarity of public administration in energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy.

Benali also stressed the need to adopt an integrated program to support every stage of desalination scheduled in the units of production of renewable energy to achieve independence and energy saving, such as the wind farm in the city of Dakhla.

She also highlighted the importance to explore new resources of energy such as the processing of solid waste in large cities and investment in the maritime field including desalination or exploitation of the potential energy of water and energy of marine currents.

Recalling that the energy transition is at the heart of the New Development Model (NMD), the minister pointed out that the challenges related are included in the first pillar on the development of the economy, noting that the NMD aims to make the Moroccan energy supply one of the components of its economic attractiveness, including through energy produced primarily from renewable sources.

The rapid energy transition will set the Kingdom as a benchmark country in terms of carbon-free production, hence expanding the possibility of access to an export offer from Morocco to promising markets and will drain large-scale investments in the green economy, she noted.

This energy transition will also strengthen the regional attractiveness and place the country at the heart of sustainable development in addition to ideal management of energy reserves and diversification of the energy mix.