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When one thinks of Morocco it conjures up a vision of eastern promise and an exotic holiday destination. Solar energy and solar technology may not be high in your thought process, but Morocco is fast becoming a hot bed for investment into renewable energy.
Morocco is a North African country that has been endowed with a glorious bounty of 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. This country does not have indigenous energy resources within its boards, and it currently imports 97% of its energy.
This is a huge pressure on the country’s trade balance, with a price tag of approximately 10% of its annual GDP and it also has a negative impact upon public finances.
Morocco now has a bright future as the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) has announced that 50 bids were submitted for new solar project from a host of European based companies. Although this significant investment has received little press, the investment comes as no big surprise given the natural resource of light, promising renewable technologies.
With the Moroccan government planning on creating 5 huge solar fields and investing over US$9 billion in solar technology, the country is fast becoming one of the most attractive renewable energy investments in Africa. MASEN further commented in reports, that the reason they opted for Solar energy and solar technology was because the investment needed to satisfy the country’s electricity operator and so it needed to involve the storage of power.
Given the high costs of their current imports, and the natural abundance of sunlight, it would appear that Morocco is perfectly positioned to demonstrate how energy friendly they can be.
If Morocco can remain committed to its goals, the country could become one of the leading generators of renewable energy in North Africa.
