Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Morocco continues to be a pioneer in renewable energy in Africa and the Arab world. The International Trade Administration notes of Morocco, “Total installed capacity from renewable energy sources stands at 4,550 MW, corresponding to 38.2 percent of total installed electrical capacity.” The country plans to generate 56% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, only five years from now, with an investment of $3 billion.
The country has nearly a gigawatt of solar capacity installed, and ACWA Saudi Arabia has just won a bid to install another 800 megawatts (0.8 gigawatts) of solar.
What I find exciting is that the Italian firm Ecoprogetti, partnering with Morocco’s Almaden energy firm, is producing 1 gigawatt worth of solar panels in the country annually. Some of these are for export, and since the African Union has low tariffs for countries inside the continent that trade with one another, Morocco can potentially export a lot of solar panels to other African countries, competing with China.
Morocco is also turning to “floatovoltaic” power, to generate electricity while protecting its reservoirs from evaporation in the increasingly hot, dry climate produced by humans burning oil, gas and coal, according to Alarabiya. Over 400 floating platforms for the panels have already been installed.
Morocco has launched a plan to cover the Sidi al-Yamani Reservoir of the Oued Raml Dam outside the Mediterranean port of Tangier with floating solar panels. The panels will reduce evaporation by as much as 30% according to Morocco’s Water Ministry. The reservoir currently loses 3,000 square meters of water every day on average, a number that doubles in the summer. The plan envisages installing 22,000 solar panels covering 25 acres. The panels will generate 13 megawatts of electricity, enough to power Tangier Med Port, reducing its carbon footprint and making it more secure and independent of foreign energy sources.
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The panels will also cool the water beneath them, increasing their efficiency compared to land-based panels. The government also plans to plant trees around the reservoir to cut down on winds that increase evaporation.
Morocco is in the midst of a seven-year drought, and increased surface temperatures because of human-caused climate breakdown are worsening the situation. Over a recent year, the country was estimated to lose the equivalent of 600 Olympic swimming pools of water to evaporation every day. Back in the 1980s, Morocco received 18 billion square meters of rainfall annually, but that has fallen to 5 billion square meters today.
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