Energy Minister Leyla Benali has high hopes for the development of renewable energy in Morocco. Photo: JULIAN SIMMONDS
About 70 miles away In Marrakesh, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, thousands of mirrors are arranged in circular patterns, focusing the sun's rays on an 800-foot tower at their center.
A dazzling structure known as The Ouarzazate solar power plant, is just one of the mega projects that Morocco has built to make the most of its huge solar and wind energy potential.
Much of the country is covered in desert. , experts believe this North African nation is poised to become a renewable energy superpower on Europe's doorstep.
The country has already established itself as a leader in renewable energy in Africa and is looking to step up cooperation with its European neighbors, including the UK. The North African nation could be an important partner in the race to net zero.
Leila Benali, Morocco's energy minister, speaks modestly about her country's potential.
“You can use any adjective you want,” she laughs when asked about her “superpower” potential, “but I don’t like big announcements. I prefer to work in silence.”
Her country's ambitions speak for themselves. Renewables already account for 40% of Morocco's installed power generation capacity, with plans to increase this to 50% by 2030.
«I'm pretty sure we'll get there,» says Benali during a meeting at the embassy of his country in London.
Today, the country has about four gigawatts of installed renewable energy capacity through a combination of solar, wind and hydro. She will need to triple that number to reach her target by 2030.
«It's part of a journey that began two decades ago with the vision of His Majesty the King,» says Benali.
Mega-projects such as the Ouarzazate solar power plant are being built at a fast pace in Morocco. Photo: FADEL SENNA/AFP
According to the International Monetary Fund, Morocco's annual output in 2021 was around $142 billion, a small fraction of the UK's 2021 output. $3.1 trillion in the same year.
The country has also been struggling with poverty since the Covid-19 pandemic and the food and energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
>However, Benali and her colleagues the government hopes that renewable energy will help change the state of their country in the same way that oil helped Norway.
Finding new sources of income will be crucial: Morocco is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. region to the effects of climate change, with abnormal temperatures and droughts already depleting agriculture and water supplies.
Along with a concentrated solar power complex in the Ouarzazate Basin, Morocco also plans to harvest the Sahara's bright sun with conventional solar panels. They can generate three times more energy in the North African country than in the UK.
Wind farms using hot desert winds and hydroelectric power plants complement Morocco's range of renewable energy projects.
< p> Europe is expected to become the main export market for the country's electricity. The region is struggling to find new sources of clean energy after Russian gas supplies were wiped off the board last year.
There are currently two interconnecting power lines and one natural gas pipeline between Spain and Morocco passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. Larger projects are in the works, including one that could create a direct link between Morocco and the UK.
The Xlinks scheme, led by former Tesco chief Dave Lewis, will generate 10.5 gigawatts of electricity from solar energy. 930 square miles of panels and wind turbines in western Morocco.
It will then transport 3.6 gigawatts of electricity directly to the UK — enough to power seven million homes, or 8% of the UK's electricity needs — via a 2,300-mile submarine cable that circles the coasts of Spain and France before it makes landfall in Devon. .
Former Tesco chief Dave Lewis is chairman of the Xlinks scheme, which aims to transport renewable energy directly from Morocco to the UK. Credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images Europe
Lewis, who left Tesco just under three years ago, hoped to have the project up and running by 2027. But he recently lamented that the political turmoil in Downing Street meant the timing was now unlikely.
Project Xlink. was mentioned in the government's recent «Strengthen Britain» strategy, and the very fact of its mention is seen by Morocco as encouraging.
Benali says she welcomes the plan, which she believes «will help both countries address their energy security, deliver on their sustainability plans, and be flexible and agile.»
Would she want the British Did ministers act faster?
“I think it will take some time,” she says. “This is a sovereign decision. I am not here to influence or put any pressure on my colleagues because I would not want them to put any pressure on me.”
“Our role as politicians is to bring down the cost of energy…but at the same time it is also to create flexible and sustainable energy systems,” she adds.
“We don’t need other wars and other crises to remind us about the importance of cooperation with each other. We need to make sure that our economies, our industrial systems in Morocco and the UK, are focused on what they do best, not on access to cheap, low-carbon energy.”
Some have questioned the basis of Morocco's ambitions and whether it makes sense for the country to send electricity abroad when it is itself still so heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
According to the International Energy Agency, in 2020, the latest year, for which data are available, the country produced about 65% of its electricity from coal. Oil makes up about 60% of the country's total energy supply.
The country also imports about 90% of its energy consumption. Shouldn't Morocco serve its own needs first?
2401 Generation Combination for a Balanced Zero Path
“I don't think it's a compromise,” says Benali. “Ever since the world began to consume energy, which is the beginning of mankind, there has always been a [distinction] between energy trade [and] local consumption.”
Offering renewable energy for export is important to attract “private investors” , national and international,” she says.
“However, the absolute number one priority is to give Morocco access to cheap, low carbon energy.”
Benaly hopes the UK can help Morocco develop some of the renewable energy projects that investors are shunning — ironically because of climate risks.
«Some developers are reluctant to help us to finance long-term projects because they are not sure how their power plants – wind, solar or even hydro plants with multiple droughts that we face – will perform in 15, 20 years,” she explains.
«The business model developed in the electricity sector over the past 30 years is being questioned.
» Today with our friends in the UK… I want to start thinking about how we can assess climate risk to speed up implementation. development and execution of these renewable energy projects, because that's what we need.
«We need to have a continuous stream of projects until 2040.»
Свежие комментарии