Morocco Finds Funds for Ambitious Solar Plants

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Morocco has reaffirmed its ambition to become a world-class solar energy producer, and is seeking the investments required to build major solar power plants in the country's southern desert regions.

Mohammed Zniber, the country's deputy of energy, said the target was to obtain 42% of the country's power supply mix from renewable energy sources by 2020. There are plans to build five new solar plants over the next eight years with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW) and an investment of less than $9 billion.

In 2012, the country's power consumption is set to rise at a rate of 10%, up 53% from the 6.5% growth rate experienced in recent years. As the country has no hydrocarbon resources, unlike its North African neighbors, it imports expensive fuel and relies on Spain to supply the necessary electricity margins via two interconnectors. But the response has been to invest heavily in clean energy infrastructure and transform the sector into a world-class producer of renewable energy.

Over the first half of 2012, the African Development Bank (AfDB) supported Morocco's plans with $800 million in loans to encourage private investment in the wind and solar markets.

The first 160-MW phase of the concentrating solar power (CSP) plant at Ouarzazate will have a 500-MW capacity when completed. With a total cost estimated at $1.34 billion, the project will be jointly financed by international funding agencies and Moroccan institutions. The project is part of a CSP development initiative, with projects across the Middle-East-North Africa (MENA) region.

In June, AfDB approved a loan for $463 million from its own resources and $125 million through the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) to extend electrification to country's integrated wind/hydro and rural electrification program, which plans to expand power capacity by 1,070 MW and extend electrification to 79,436 households.

The International Energy Agency emphasizes that it is only through technological learning, as a result of marketplace deployment, that project costs are reduced and the product adapted to the market.

"If a project is eligible for concessional finance, be it grants or loans, it indicates political support. That brings everyone on board and makes everyone more confident that the project will advance," said Richard Claudet of the AfDB at a workshop on lesson sharing for the MENA CSP scale up initiative, organized by the AfDB and the World Bank.

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