Morocco is attracting international companies active in the renewable energy investment market

In recent years, a number of international companies active in the investment market in renewable energy sources have shown increasing interest. Especially since the Kingdom of Morocco is one of the first countries in the Mediterranean region and North Africa to enter the era of production and consumption of renewable energy sources and production of clean electricity.

The latest indication of this was the presiding, on Tuesday, November 22, by King Mohammed VI, at the Royal Palace in Rabat, of a working session dedicated to the development of renewable energy sources and new horizons in this area, which became the focus of numerous European and Arab companies.

The strategic goals set by the Kingdom in the field of development of renewable energy sources, in particular raising the share of these energies to more than 52 percent of the national electricity mix by 2030, are unfailingly followed by actors in the field of investment in this type of energy transition projects that have made Morocco a pioneer regional and global.

The same working session witnessed royal directives to accelerate the pace of development of renewable energy sources in the country, especially solar energy and wind energy. It intended to “strengthen its energy sovereignty, reduce energy costs and position itself as a carbon-free economy in the coming decades.” This particularly refers to the acceleration of the pace of realization of projects under development, as well as the optimal assessment of Morocco’s competitiveness in order to attract more domestic and foreign investments in this sector.

In this regard, the international company Lekela Power based in the Netherlands, with a focus on the African continent, has expressed its intention to enter the renewable energy market in Morocco and increase investment in it.

According to what the company itself announced, this step comes as part of its plan as part of its expansion strategy in Africa, describing the clean energy field as “growing in Morocco”.

The selection of the Moroccan market for the company’s investment is due to “the existing great opportunities that the Kingdom offers for renewable energy”, citing “the availability of abundant sources of solar and wind energy that lay the foundations for strong growth in the green energy and hydrogen sectors”; The latter, which enjoys special royal attention as part of the modernization of the national energy strategy.

Lekel Power’s CEO, Chris Antonopoulos, said: “The Moroccan government’s green energy agenda and the country’s renewable potential provide an opportunity for the company to achieve its goal of tripling its turnover in the next three to four years, while contributing to a major development of projects in Morocco, which largely depends on the expansion of renewable energy sources.

The consideration of entering the Moroccan energy market comes after Lekela Power’s recent acquisition of two companies in Egypt and Nigeria, as “the entry is expected to lead to increased investment in renewable energy sources to advance the energy transition process and ensure energy security across the continent .” .

Commenting on this, Amine Bennouna, professor of energy sciences at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh, said that this would “provide Morocco with new opportunities to achieve its electricity generation capacity goals by 2030 at the latest, while diversifying international investment,” noting that it was not the first company to move recently.On intentions to enter the promising Moroccan market, but “there are also actors from India and Italy in the field”.

Bennouna added, in a statement to Hespress, that the Kingdom “has already attracted investments from global renewable energy companies in the last decade, with the mobilization of large financial resources for open or planned projects”, supplying the models of “Saudi ACWA Power” and the Indian Adani Group. As well as the credit line for financing opened by the European Investment Bank for the green economy.

And the Moroccan energy expert explained that “the goal set from 2008 to 2030 is to reach a production capacity of 52 percent, of which 25 thousand megawatts are renewable. We may achieve this in Morocco before then, that is between 2026 and 2028,” explaining that the reason is that “the demand for electricity with its diversity has not grown at the expected rate, so our needs will be limited to 16,000 megawatts, according to the latest data .”

The spokesperson pointed out to Hespress that “investments on Moroccan soil for the production of electricity are attracting the attention of international actors with known experience in the field”, referring to “practical agreements that have taken place in favor of Emirati, Saudi and French investments, with Italian, Dutch and India’s ambitions to compete strongly,” revealing that “conflict between investors has been traditional.” In what have now become secondary investors, competition has intensified among them to exploit the huge potential of clean energy production that Morocco is fostering.

Bennouna concluded that “the supply remains small and limited, in contrast to the high global demand and investment attractiveness, although the market for the sale of electricity is generally weak”, noting that “high fossil energy prices encourage economic orientation and capital towards renewable energies, while Law 13. -09 gives the right to invest.” Into a wind and solar project, with the possibility of selling or exporting clean energy to a party that uses high voltage.”

The same spokesperson concluded that “Morocco is diversifying its energy investment partnerships by signing contracts with Spain and Portugal for the sale of clean green electricity, while opening the door to the discharge of the product within the national territory or its conditional export, thereby contributing to the dynamics of investment.”