Morocco faces the energy challenge
5 May 2014
Read by 2564 persons
Energy represents for Morocco a scarce and expensive resource, which slows its economic growth dynamic.
State-led projects for the development of renewable energies in the solar and wind sectors should only contribute in a limited way to the country's overall energy production in the long term. Almost all of the energy consumed in the national territory, whether produced locally or imported, is from fossil sources. Oil and coal are still the only raw materials from which the ONEE power plants operate. Notwithstanding the environmental cost of the intensive use of these energy resources, their weight in the public financial burden is considerable. The cost of compensation, which is borne by the general state budget to support pump prices, will represent in 2014 the paltry sum of 28 billion dirhams, despite the implementation of a system of partial indexing of fuel prices. Imports of oil & other energy products and lubricants have a very heavy impact on the trade balance deficit: 102.1 MD DH of imports in 2013, or 52% of the trade deficit. ONEE, which produces electricity from fossil fuels under structurally deficient operating conditions, represents an unprecedented financial drain. It should be recalled that this public establishment generated more than 12 MD DH of accumulated losses over the last five years, and that its overall debt exceeds 52 MD DH?
Is this situation of energy vulnerability and oil dependence irreversible? The answer is clearly no, because an alternative energy policy is possible. The way is paved by advanced countries that have managed to negotiate their energy transition very early on, by developing civil nuclear power to produce cheap electricity and by investing massively in non-fossil and non-greenhouse gas generating renewable energies. Excluding nuclear energy, which poses problems of technology acquisition and military security, renewable energies represent a formidable opportunity for Morocco to expand its energy resource reserves, secure its economic development path and build new industrial sectors creating high value-added jobs. Among these sectors, there are obviously those where Morocco has begun to position itself. We can mention the solar energy development plan, which will produce 2000 megawatts by 2020 at the cost of a $9 billion investment program involving Masen, ONEE and private contractors such as Nareva. We can also mention the integrated wind energy program, which encourages private electricity production through electricity supply and purchase contracts concluded between ONEE and selected partners, to reach a capacity of 1000 MW in 2020.
But there are above all other renewable energy sectors whose development potential is infinitely greater. These are marine renewable energies, which group six production technologies: offshore wind energy, wave energy, tidal energy, ocean thermal energy, osmotic energy (technique of separating fresh water and salt water by a membrane) and tidal energy. All these types of marine energy can be used for the production of exportable energy to land in the form of electricity. While the production costs of marine energies are still high, they are expected to become increasingly competitive in the perspective of an increase in the reference prices of fossil fuels and an accounting in these prices of the environmental cost of carbon emission.
While Morocco has the assets to succeed in these sectors where divine blessing and geography have offered it an unlimited natural resource, it is totally absent at the industrial and scientific level. While Morocco controls immense oceanographic expanses with its 3446 km of marine coasts on which it has sovereign rights up to 200 nautical miles defining the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the marine energy industry is non-existent. At the same time, its traditional partners already master marine energies on a large scale thanks to their investments in R&D and their support for industrial sectors. Among the world leaders in marine energy, there is the United Kingdom, which hosts the world's largest tidal energy reserve in the Pentland Firth and boasts 3300 MW of offshore wind power, followed by Canada, which has an exceptional natural potential of 35.7 gigawatts in marine energies (excluding offshore wind). New entrants have invested in this sector and are showing strong ambitions to develop their production capacities, such as the United States, China, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and France.
The marine energy industry presents important economic challenges for the Kingdom's coastal areas. It is an inexhaustible source of energy to ensure the sustainable development of the country and to loosen the grip of the oil bill. As it can embody a project to mobilize human aspirations in the southern provinces and a way for the Kingdom to extend its geographical presence by conquering a new territory, that of its seas.
Mohammed Benmoussa.
Economist and business leader.
Leseco.ma
Published on May 4, 2014.
Posted online on May 5, 2014.
State-led projects for the development of renewable energies in the solar and wind sectors should only contribute in a limited way to the country's overall energy production in the long term. Almost all of the energy consumed in the national territory, whether produced locally or imported, is from fossil sources. Oil and coal are still the only raw materials from which the ONEE power plants operate. Notwithstanding the environmental cost of the intensive use of these energy resources, their weight in the public financial burden is considerable. The cost of compensation, which is borne by the general state budget to support pump prices, will represent in 2014 the paltry sum of 28 billion dirhams, despite the implementation of a system of partial indexing of fuel prices. Imports of oil & other energy products and lubricants have a very heavy impact on the trade balance deficit: 102.1 MD DH of imports in 2013, or 52% of the trade deficit. ONEE, which produces electricity from fossil fuels under structurally deficient operating conditions, represents an unprecedented financial drain. It should be recalled that this public establishment generated more than 12 MD DH of accumulated losses over the last five years, and that its overall debt exceeds 52 MD DH?
Is this situation of energy vulnerability and oil dependence irreversible? The answer is clearly no, because an alternative energy policy is possible. The way is paved by advanced countries that have managed to negotiate their energy transition very early on, by developing civil nuclear power to produce cheap electricity and by investing massively in non-fossil and non-greenhouse gas generating renewable energies. Excluding nuclear energy, which poses problems of technology acquisition and military security, renewable energies represent a formidable opportunity for Morocco to expand its energy resource reserves, secure its economic development path and build new industrial sectors creating high value-added jobs. Among these sectors, there are obviously those where Morocco has begun to position itself. We can mention the solar energy development plan, which will produce 2000 megawatts by 2020 at the cost of a $9 billion investment program involving Masen, ONEE and private contractors such as Nareva. We can also mention the integrated wind energy program, which encourages private electricity production through electricity supply and purchase contracts concluded between ONEE and selected partners, to reach a capacity of 1000 MW in 2020.
But there are above all other renewable energy sectors whose development potential is infinitely greater. These are marine renewable energies, which group six production technologies: offshore wind energy, wave energy, tidal energy, ocean thermal energy, osmotic energy (technique of separating fresh water and salt water by a membrane) and tidal energy. All these types of marine energy can be used for the production of exportable energy to land in the form of electricity. While the production costs of marine energies are still high, they are expected to become increasingly competitive in the perspective of an increase in the reference prices of fossil fuels and an accounting in these prices of the environmental cost of carbon emission.
While Morocco has the assets to succeed in these sectors where divine blessing and geography have offered it an unlimited natural resource, it is totally absent at the industrial and scientific level. While Morocco controls immense oceanographic expanses with its 3446 km of marine coasts on which it has sovereign rights up to 200 nautical miles defining the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the marine energy industry is non-existent. At the same time, its traditional partners already master marine energies on a large scale thanks to their investments in R&D and their support for industrial sectors. Among the world leaders in marine energy, there is the United Kingdom, which hosts the world's largest tidal energy reserve in the Pentland Firth and boasts 3300 MW of offshore wind power, followed by Canada, which has an exceptional natural potential of 35.7 gigawatts in marine energies (excluding offshore wind). New entrants have invested in this sector and are showing strong ambitions to develop their production capacities, such as the United States, China, Denmark, Spain, Portugal and France.
The marine energy industry presents important economic challenges for the Kingdom's coastal areas. It is an inexhaustible source of energy to ensure the sustainable development of the country and to loosen the grip of the oil bill. As it can embody a project to mobilize human aspirations in the southern provinces and a way for the Kingdom to extend its geographical presence by conquering a new territory, that of its seas.
Mohammed Benmoussa.
Economist and business leader.
Leseco.ma
Published on May 4, 2014.
Posted online on May 5, 2014.
