Morocco, emboldened by its significant renewable energy resources, was among the first countries in the Middle East and North Africa to cut fossil fuel subsidies. It has significant potential to increase hydropower storage capacity and reinforce its green energy production.
The country’s total installed capacity is 8,262 MW of which 1,770 MW is accounted for by hydropower. The government’s policy is to increase renewable generation capacity to 42 per cent of the energy mix by 2030 – up from 19 per cent capacity in 2010.
With energy demand expected to double by 2025, the government plans to accelerate the pace of reforms to enable public and private operators to develop 10,100 MW of additional capacity by 2030, including 1,330 MW of hydropower, with 550 MW to be developed by the private sector, and about 100,6 MW in small hydro. This will help the country reach 2,000 MW of installed hydropower capacity by 2020.
By 2020 the country aims to develop 2,000 MW of solar power. With 3,500 km of coastline, Morocco has potential for the development of pumped storage projects which could be coupled with other renewable energy facilities to provide a viable solution to the intermittency of variable renewables such as both solar and wind energy.
The government owned Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) is the main player in the power sector. ONEE is implementing an environmental and social management system (SMES) at the Al Wahada and Afourer hydropower plants. Moreover, the Ministry of Energy in cooperation with the German government is undertaking a study to assess the viability of seawater pumped storage.
ONEE is the fourth largest operator in the Spanish electricity market with the Morocco-Spain interconnection, which has an exchange capacity of 2,400 MW. Another interconnection between Mauritania and Morocco is also being assessed.
In 2017 ONEE announced construction of two new pumped storage stations with a total capacity of 600 MW. The first, the El Menzel II station, will be located in the upper Sebou, and the second, the Ifahsa station, will be built on the right bank of Oued Laou. These projects will each have an installed capacity of 300 MW. Ifasha is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
The completion of the Abdelmoumen pumped storage project (350 MW) located about 7 km north-east of Agadir will support the Aferer project (464 MW). Abdelmoumen will become operational in 2020 and will add 350 MW of capacity to the country.
In addition, construction of the Khénifra hydropower plant (128 MW) has begun together with several small hydropower plans: Bar Ouender (30 MW) in Taounate Boutferda (18 MW) in Azilal, Tillouguit aval (26 MW), Tillouguit amont (8 MW) and Tamejout (30 MW) in Benin Mellal.
This country profile is featured in the 2018 Hydropower Status Report. Download the full report here.
This profile was last updated in June 2018.
Morocco, emboldened by its significant renewable energy resources, was among the first countries in the Middle East and North Africa to cut fossil fuel subsidies. It has significant potential to increase hydropower storage capacity and reinforce its green energy production.
The country’s total installed capacity is 8,262 MW of which 1,770 MW is accounted for by hydropower. The government’s policy is to increase renewable generation capacity to 42 per cent of the energy mix by 2030 – up from 19 per cent capacity in 2010.
With energy demand expected to double by 2025, the government plans to accelerate the pace of reforms to enable public and private operators to develop 10,100 MW of additional capacity by 2030, including 1,330 MW of hydropower, with 550 MW to be developed by the private sector, and about 100,6 MW in small hydro. This will help the country reach 2,000 MW of installed hydropower capacity by 2020.
By 2020 the country aims to develop 2,000 MW of solar power. With 3,500 km of coastline, Morocco has potential for the development of pumped storage projects which could be coupled with other renewable energy facilities to provide a viable solution to the intermittency of variable renewables such as both solar and wind energy.
The government owned Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) is the main player in the power sector. ONEE is implementing an environmental and social management system (SMES) at the Al Wahada and Afourer hydropower plants. Moreover, the Ministry of Energy in cooperation with the German government is undertaking a study to assess the viability of seawater pumped storage.
ONEE is the fourth largest operator in the Spanish electricity market with the Morocco-Spain interconnection, which has an exchange capacity of 2,400 MW. Another interconnection between Mauritania and Morocco is also being assessed.
In 2017 ONEE announced construction of two new pumped storage stations with a total capacity of 600 MW. The first, the El Menzel II station, will be located in the upper Sebou, and the second, the Ifahsa station, will be built on the right bank of Oued Laou. These projects will each have an installed capacity of 300 MW. Ifasha is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
The completion of the Abdelmoumen pumped storage project (350 MW) located about 7 km north-east of Agadir will support the Aferer project (464 MW). Abdelmoumen will become operational in 2020 and will add 350 MW of capacity to the country.
In addition, construction of the Khénifra hydropower plant (128 MW) has begun together with several small hydropower plans: Bar Ouender (30 MW) in Taounate Boutferda (18 MW) in Azilal, Tillouguit aval (26 MW), Tillouguit amont (8 MW) and Tamejout (30 MW) in Benin Mellal.
This country profile is featured in the 2018 Hydropower Status Report. Download the full report here.
This profile was last updated in June 2018.
