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Morocco Energy Situation
Overview
| Kingdom of Morocco | |||
 |
 | ||
|
Capital |
Rabat (34°02′N 6°51′W) | ||
|
Official language(s) |
Arabic | ||
|
Government |
Constitutional monarchy | ||
|
King |
Mohammed VI | ||
|
Prime Minister |
Abbas El Fassi | ||
|
Total area |
710,850 km2 | ||
|
Population |
32,200,000 (2009 estimate) | ||
|
GDP (nominal) |
$104.031 billion | ||
|
GDP Per capita (nominal) |
$3,161 | ||
|
Currency |
Moroccan dirham (MAD) | ||
|
Time zone |
WET (UTC+0) | ||
|
Calling code |
+212 | ||
Morocco is located in North Africa and has borders to Algeria and Western Sahara, with coasts towards the North Atlantic Ocean as well as the Mediterranean Sea (see map). In Morocco, a Mediterranean climate is prevalent and in the north-west, it becomes more Saharan-continental and thus extreme to the south-west and southern regions. The Atlas-Mountains run from the south-west to north-east and form the climatic border: in the north-western part, summers are dry and warm, the winters mild and rainy. East of the Atlas Mountains, the climate is continental, with hot summers and cold winters, with little rain. The wind is generally highest at the northern and south-western coast and on the eastern part of the Atlas-Mountains. The official language in Morocco is Arabic, but there are also Berber dialects spoken and French often is the language of business, government and diplomacy. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with Mohammed VI as the king who appoints the prime minister. The current prime minister is Abbas al-Fassi, voted into office at legislative elections held in October 2007 which can be considered as relatively free, but with a very low voter participation (37 % of which 19 % proved invalid). Foreign policy is oriented towards the West. Morocco aims to mediate between Arabic, African and international partners and has close connections to other developing countries with similar intentions.[1] A potential for conflict is the unresolved status of Western Sahara, which Morocco claims, but is under an UN-administered cease-fire status since 1991. As the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) has been accepted by the African Union, Morocco since then left the union. Morocco is a member of the WTO and has signed free trade agreements with the European Union, the United States and Turkey. In 2008, Morocco got the status of »statut avancé«, which gives access to more European programmes. In addition, it is part of a free trade zone with Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan. In 2009, the main export partners were Spain (22,02 %), France (20.22 %) and India (4.91 %), import partners were France (15.95 %), Spain (14.72 %) and China (7.1 %).[2] Morocco is strongly involved in co-operations of North African as well as European countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.[3] Although the main trade partner is still the EU and Africa only accounted for 5.6 % of foreign trade transactions, its trade with other countries of the Arab Maghreb Union is steadily growing and doubled from 2004 to 2008 to around 1.4 billion €. Morocco has also signed the Agadir Agreement to establish a free trade zone between the Arabic Mediterranean nations with Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, in effect since March 2007.[4] Experts of the World Bank, other banks and investment companies see large potential for economic growth in Morocco and classify the country as a potential market of the future.[5] In 2010, the inflation rate was 2.5 %. In 2007, 15 % of the´Moroccan population lived below the poverty line.[6] The per capita income in Morocco is within the middle group of African countries.
Energy situation
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Energy Supply
The primary energy supply in Morocco has been rising steadily and reached 13 977 ktoe in 2006 which translates to 585 PJ or 162 553 GWh. The share of the various sources of the total primary energy supply in 2008 can be seen in the table below. Morocco is clearly dependent on fossil fuels, as crude oil accounts for 46 % of the primary energy supply, coal and peat for 28 %, petroleum products for 18 % and gas for 3 %. The primary energy supply has increased significantly in the past. It developed quite linear from around 104 PJ in 1971 to the current value of 585 PJ (in 2006). According to historic data from IEA the main growth dependency is as high as 96 %.
| Total Primary Energy Supply 2008 | ||
| Energy Source | in PJ | in % |
| Coal and Peat | 123 | |
| Crude Oil | 242 | |
| Oil Products | 202 | |
| Gas | 20 | |
| Hydro | 3 | |
| Geothermal, Solar etc. | 1 | |
| Combustible Renewables and Waste | 20 | |
| Electricity | 15 | |
| TOTAL | 627 |
Source: http://www.iea.org/stats/balancetable.asp?COUNTRY_CODE=MA
Electricity
In 2008, the amount of electricity produced by the public utility ONE and the three independent power producers mentioned above (JLEC, EET and Théolia) totalled 20 306 GWh (one third by ONE, two thirds under concession). Thermal power generation accounts for 92 % of the national electricity generation, hydropower accounted for 7 % of electricity supplies, and wind power for 1.5 %. Athough the installed capacity in Morocco has grown in the past, it could not meet the stronger growing electricity emand. This resulted in an increase of imports rom Algeria and Spain. The amount of electricity sold in Morocco reached 21 568 GWh in 2008, compared with 20 541 GWh in 2007, meaning 4.9 % growth.9 Tab. 6 shows the electricity consumption according to sectors and it can be seen that the largest consumer is the industry with 42 %. For more recent years, this information is not available as sale through local distributors is not split up any further by MEMEE. For the period up to 2015, the Government of Morocco is expecting the annual growth rate to be as high as 7.5 %, mainly due to socioeconomic development and a growth of population. According to estimates by ONE, national demand for electricity in 2015 will be 35 000 - 40 000 GWh. MEMEE, however, expects an even higher demand, reaching 44 900 GWh (7 545 MW) in 2015 according to an intermediate scenario. 10
Energy Consumption
Final energy consumption in 2008 added up to 11 313 ktoe (equal to 131 570 GWh or 473 PJ).
Energy demand
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Electricity
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Access rate
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Market situation for different energy technologies and services
In Morocco, the major form of renewable energy is biomass, mostly in the traditional form of fuel, wood or charcoal for heating and cooking purposes. The most relevant renewable energies used in the electricity sector are hydro energy, wind energy and solar home systems (SHS) within the scope of the rural electrification programme PERG. In 2008, 1 360 GWh were produced from hydro power, 298 GWh from wind (see Tab. 5). ONE operates 26 hydro power stations with a total installed capacity of 1 360 MW. In addition, hydro power comes partly from a 464 MW pumped storage power plant near Beni Mallal/Afourer. In Oued Oum Er Rbia, micro hydro power stations shall be developed in the future. For that purpose, a programme has been set up to identify potential sites of which 200 could be identified. Furthermore, pilot projects are to be operated and evaluated now or soon; the development, financing and construction of more stations will be pursued in the future. At the end of 2007, 44 719 households were equipped with SHS.11 The aim of another governmental pilot programme, the Chourouk programme, is to install 1400 micro PV power stations of 0.5 – 1 kW in the regions of d’Errachidia, Benguerir and Ouarzazate. These PV stations will be connected to the low voltage grid. At the moment, the programme is stopped, until the new renewable energy law is approved.
Solar Energy
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Wind Energy
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Biomass
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Biogas
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Hydro Power
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Other renewable Sources
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Key problems of the energy sector
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Policy framework, laws and regulations
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General Energy policy, Energy strategy
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Important Laws and regulations
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Specific strategies (Biomass, renewable energies, rural electrification, energy access strategy etc.)
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Institutional set up in the energy sector
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Governmental institutions Private sector (enterprises, NGOs)
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Activities of other donors, activities of NGOs
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Existing projects
Publications
External links
- Kingdom of Morocco (official portal)
- Morocco entry at The World Factbook
