Renewable energy in Morocco

As of 2019, renewable energy in Morocco covered 35% of the country’s electricity needs.

Morocco has a target of sourcing more than half of its electrical energy from renewable sources by 2030 and a plan to have 2,000 MW of wind and 2,000 MW of solar power plants by 2020, looking to add 1.5 GW renewable capacity annually. These targets, alongside other climate change policy, helped Morocco be rated second most prepared country in the 2018 and 2019 Climate Change Performance Index es.

Development
In January 2004, the Office National de l'Electricité (ONE) announced US$3.4 billion energy development plan, in which renewable energy played a key role. The goal was to provide 80 percent of rural areas with electricity by 2008, while increasing the share of renewable energy from 0.24 percent in 2003 to 10 percent in 2011. The plan called for two new wind projects, as well as a 200–250 MW thermo-solar facility in d’Ain Beni Mathar, of which 30 MW was to be generated from solar power. One of the wind power facilities (60 MW) was to be located in Essaouira, while the other (140 MW) was to be located near Tangiers. The Essaouira facility was scheduled to come on-line in 2007.

In May 2005, ONE selected Temsol for a $27.6 million project to supply solar power to 37,000 rural homes by 2007. Similar contracts were awarded in May 2002 to a consortium led by Total Energie and in January 2004 to Apex-BP. Currently, only 55 percent of outlying villages have access to electricity.

Alstom, a French company building a high speed rail link between Tangier and Casablanca, will also build power generation facilities with a capacity of 470 megawatts to energize the rail link. While most of the capacity will come from standard gas combined cycle combustion, 20 megawatts will be from solar power.

A net energy importer, Morocco launched the National Renewable Energy and Efficiency Plan in February 2008 to develop alternative energy to meet 15% of its domestic needs and increase the use of energy-saving methods. The plan is expected to create more than 40,000 jobs and stimulate over €4.5bn in investment by 2020. The National Plan for the Development of Solar Thermal Energy, formulated in 2001, aims to install 440,000 solar-powered water heaters by 2012, of which 235,000 are completed. The Moroccan government plans to produce 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

In 2008 Morocco announced plans for a new campus providing knowledge-based services to strengthen research and training in clean technology. The campus is part of a $219 million clean energy industrial park being built in the eastern city of Oujda to support private sector investment as well as renewable energy companies. Building is underway, and the campus is expected to open by 2010.

In 2009, Morocco set out an energy plan which aimed for 42% of total installed power capacity to be renewable energy by 2020. Morocco has since pledged to increase the renewables in its electricity mix to 52% by 2030, made up of 20% solar, 20% wind and 12% hydro.

In November 2009 Morocco announced a solar energy project worth $9 billion which officials said will account for 38 percent of the North African country's installed power generation by 2020. Funding would be from a mix of private and state capital. The ceremony was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Moroccan king. The project will involve five solar power generation sites across Morocco and will produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020. The project would add in terms of power generation the equivalent of the current electricity consumption of the country's commercial capital Casablanca. Germany has expressed its willingness to participate in the development of Morocco's solar energy project which the country has decided to carry out, as did the World Bank. Germany will also take part in the development of a water-desalination plant.

Since December 2015, the prices of fuels obey the free play of supply and demand.

Solar power
The Ouarzazate Solar power plant was completed in 2016.

Forecast
Energy sources are significant. Morocco has additional renewable resources that could be developed, which the countries four perennial rivers and many dams with hydroelectric potential. Forecasts estimate wind energy potential at 6 GW, the solar heater market at 1M m2, and highlight strong potential for biomass enhancement (9 million hectares of wooded areas). The expectations in this field are high among institutional stakeholders, economic players and also consumers.

There are three main obstacles to incentives and institutional approaches:
 * Regulations are lacking;
 * Renewable energy and energy efficiency are low priorities for national development programs dedicated to raising awareness and to ensuring sustainable demand in RE and energy efficiency technologies and services;
 * Taxation does not provide attractive market conditions.

Criticism
The renewable energy policy of Morocco has been criticized for
 * focusing on mega-projects such as the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station at the expense of local small-scale projects
 * benefiting mostly foreign countries instead of the Moroccan population
 * over-using scarce water resources.