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Morocco to invest $3bn in power projects over five years

The Noor Ouarzazate solar complex in Morocco. Renewables account for 44% of the country's energy mix Alamy via Reuters
The Noor Ouarzazate solar complex in Morocco. Renewables account for 44% of the country's energy mix
  • Renewables share to increase
  • Aim for 52% of energy mix by 2030
  • $25bn green hydrogen project

Morocco is planning to invest more than MAD27 billion ($2.7 billion) into power projects in the next five years to expand its electricity network and increase the share of renewable energy, an official has said.

The development plan, starting this year, covers conventional electricity, renewable sources and hydrogen projects, said Tarik Hammane, director general of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water.

Speaking at a local energy seminar in the port of Casablanca earlier this week, Hammane said Morocco has made headway in a drive to increase reliance on renewable energy, which now accounts for around 44.3 percent of the country’s total energy mix.

His figures showed Morocco’s renewable energy production has reached 5,400 megawatts (MW), including 2,400MW from wind, 2,100MW from water and 900MW from solar sources.

“There are plans to invest at least 27 billion dirhams in the next five years in projects to develop the country’s electricity network. The projects comprise conventional electricity, renewable energy and hydrogen,” Hammane was quoted as saying in the Arabic language daily Sabah Akadir.

“Electricity projects will no doubt contribute to bolstering the domestic economy. We expect the renewable projects to boost the sector’s share of the energy mix to 52 percent.”

Morocco has dedicated a large portion of its investments to renewable energy over the past years in a bid to achieve its 52 percent target by 2030.

Investments in renewable energy projects have risen by nearly 42 percent over the past four years, Morocco’s minister of energy transition Leila Benali said in 2024.

The projects widened the country’s reliance on solar power and other renewable energy sources from 37 percent in 2021 to more than 44 percent in 2024, she said.

Benali said renewable energy project investments surged to nearly MAD25.3 billion during 2021-2024 from MAD17.5 billion in the previous four years.

In late 2024, a UAE-Moroccan private venture said it was planning to invest nearly $25 billion into a green hydrogen and ammonia project in Morocco.

Dahamco said it has already obtained approval from the Moroccan government to set up the project in the Atlantic port of Dakhla in the disputed Western Sahara.

In comments published by France’s Le Matin newspaper, Dahamco president Tom Hanson said phase 1 of the project would produce nearly 1 million tonnes per year and that it would cost around MAD40 billion.

He said: “Dahamco has obtained land rights and the necessary local authorisations for its project well before the implementation of Morocco’s offer for the development of green hydrogen in November 2022.”

He said project approvals from the Regional Investment Centre were issued in July 2022, adding that the majority of the land to house the project was registered.