Morocco plans to speed up the process of raising the percentage of renewable energy to 52%.
Attaqa, a Washington-based energy platform, said that the North African government is in talks with numerous Emirati corporations to start wind energy projects in its southern regions in Western Sahara.
Rabat is said to be in talks with Emirati businesses, such as Masdar, AMEA Power, and Taqa, about wind energy projects as part of its ambitious ambition to raise the percentage of renewable energy to 52% by 2030.
Attaqa said that the estimated investments for wind energy projects in Morocco’s southern provinces in Western Sahara, which are presently being negotiated, would be between $8 billion and $10 billion, and the projects will be able to provide up to 5,000 megawatts of power.
The southern regions of Morocco have a lot of unique potential that makes them appropriate for wind energy projects. Wind speeds may reach 8.4 meters per second, which is great for putting up wind turbines.
The platform said that since 2015, wind energy projects in the southern provinces of the Western Sahara region in southern Morocco have attracted a lot of money. This shows that the country wants to expand clean electricity projects to lower the cost of importing fuel needed to run thermal power plants.
Renewable energy projects in the southern provinces are a big portion of Morocco’s clean energy supply and are the most important aspect of the country’s promise to get 52% of its power mix by 2030.
Wind farm project locations in the southern provinces of Western Sahara are especially good since they are far away from the major crowded regions, which means they don’t have to deal with difficulties that come up when people move.
The specialised energy platform database says that Morocco’s southern regions in Western Sahara now have four working wind farms that provide around 750 megawatts of power per hour to the country’s electrical system.
In the southern provinces, there are already four wind farms with a combined capacity of 750 megawatts. These are located at Tarfaya (300 megawatts), Aftissat (200 megawatts), Laayoune (50 megawatts), and Akhfenir (200 megawatts).
Attaqa also said that work is still going on to build two more wind stations in Morocco’s southern provinces in Western Sahara. These stations will contribute 400 megawatts to the country’s electrical system in the next few months, with Boujdour getting 300 megawatts and Tiskrad getting 100 megawatts.
Projects for renewable energy in Morocco
The article says that Emirati firms want to get a part of Morocco’s renewable energy projects, especially wind energy, which has grown a lot in the last few years.
Leila Benali, Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition, claimed in February that the country’s wind energy capacity will reach 2,373 megawatts by the end of 2024.
The most recent statistics from Attaqa shows that wind energy made up 21.23% of Morocco’s power mix in 2024, up from 15.4% in 2023.
On May 20, a group of Moroccan and Emirati companies said they had signed investment deals with the Moroccan government for around $14 billion to carry out a number of projects, including building infrastructure for generating and transferring power from renewable sources and desalinating seawater.
The projects that Morocco’s Taqa firm is working on with the UAE’s Taqa include building a 1,400-kilometer transmission line to transfer energy from wind production stations in the southern regions to Casablanca. These stations are expected to generate 1,200 megawatts of power.
In June, the Moroccan business Yina and the Emirati company AMEA Power announced that they had signed a strategic partnership arrangement to build a 100-megawatt wind farm near the city of Laayoune.
The wind station is anticipated to commence operations in 2027, while construction work is expected to start in late 2025. The plant will help cut down on more than 330,000 tonnes of carbon per year.