Washington – Over the past ten years, Morocco transformed itself into a leader in renewable electricity and is ranked as the top MENA country on MIT’s Green Future Index, wrote the Middle East Policy Council.

In an interview with Saïd Mouline, director general of the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency (AMEE), the official said that “the major shift in our energy policy occurred in 2009 when HM King Mohammed VI announced that we should prioritize renewables and efficiency, with dedicated agencies in support.”

“Today, we not only create projects linked to renewables but have a broader strategy with objectives to reach. For example, in 2009, we set the goal of reaching 42 percent renewable energy capacity in 2020. Now the target is 52 percent capacity by 2030,” he said.

“We believe that it is possible to reach the very ambitious objective of 100 percent because it has become economically possible. Before, it was limited by the intermittency of renewables, but that is not the case anymore,” the official noted.

“We can reach 100 percent of renewables while eliminating also all use of fossil fuel for transport,” he stressed.

For the energy transition in transportation, the development of new technologies and hydrogen are essential, he said, adding that the hydrogen sector offers many opportunities to accelerate the energy transition and drastically reduce emissions.

“If we can produce green molecules—hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, and others—for electricity needs while finding a way to decarbonize them, hydrogen technology can be applied to the transportation and industrial sectors,” he asserted.

In Morocco, there are many opportunities because the country has already achieved high renewable energy production, he said, adding that “if you look at the map of Morocco for wind and solar projects, there is tremendous potential. Before, we were 95 percent dependent on fossil fuel imports, but not anymore due to renewable projects. This is a fundamental economic change and opportunity.”

With strong political support, we have led the successful development of global projects for ten years, he said.

Morocco has shown the whole continent how to economically implement renewable energy policies, and we support our partners throughout the continent today in this pursuit. We can share with many countries our different projects on both small and large scales, he underlined.