China, in front of the Nations of the world and through the voice of its President Xi Jinping, has pledged to stop financing coal projects, particularly those of its thermal power stations. China, it should be remembered, is the most polluter with 9.8 million tonnes of CO2 emitted largely due to the export of consumer goods and its heavy dependence on coal.
This being the question that torments the minds of environmental activists in our country, is all covetous as to the idea: should this not encourage the Kingdom to do the same. In fact, the latest project to date in Morocco, the Nador coal-fired thermal power plant, with a capacity of 1,320 MW, is due to be commissioned at the end of the year. It is one of the main and largest projects of the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), alongside the so-called “clean” coal-fired power station in Safi.
The estimated investment for the Nador plant, which consisted of the construction of two coal-fired units of 660 MW each, was initially estimated at around 23 billion DH (2.6 billion dollars). We readily associate the almost tied-up project of the Nador thermal power station, with the Nador West Med megaproject, the future Moroccan transshipment port with oil, gas and coal docks erected in the Bay of Betoya, located at the level of the estuary of the Wadi Kert, 30 km west of the city of Nador.
For the activist Mohamed Benata, Agronomist, Dr in Geography, President of ESCO, founding member of ECOLOMAN and fervent defender of the environment, he is sorry about the impacts that “this scourge” that is this fuel could have. fossil, coal.
The policy of “do what I say not what I do”
So he told MoroccoLatestNews.fr “ Despite the commitments made by Morocco within the framework of the Paris Agreement, during the COP 22 in Marrakech and others, our authorities continue to develop new power plants based on coal, the most polluting fuel, despite all the treatments. to make it cleaner. Yet the Kingdom is willing to place itself as a leader in renewable energies, the fight against climate change … and despite all this, we see that the policy in this direction is far from conforming to the reality on the ground, regarding the realization of such projects “.
And Mohamed Benata to continue, “ It is declared that we are committed to abandoning fossils, but unfortunately we always find ourselves wanting to carry out new projects in this direction with investments going in the context of fossil fuels, which goes against the policies of banks. funding. These are contradictions that cost us our environmental future. A future that would emerge in cleaner renewable energies and which remain very competitive compared to oil, coal and other fossil fuels.
Our interlocutor emphasizes, “Indeed, just investing in solar energy such as photovoltaics could lead to self-sufficiency and we could even export, without relying on other energies, wind power, hydroelectric power, etc. Morocco does not lack natural resources which are renewed quickly enough for them to be considered inexhaustible in space and time. Why then do we backtrack? “
And the environmental activist to conclude. Today the time has come to abandon these polluting materials, moreover even China is committed within thirty years (2050) to no longer use the slightest gram of coal for its electricity. I think this is a courageous decision, which should be taken into consideration and as an example. Morocco is rich in its natural substitutes, why not exploit them and take advantage of them.
Coal in national demand has risen sharply in recent years, although it seems to be in final decline in most regions of the world and particularly in China, where nearly 58% of its electricity comes from 1,058 coal-fired power stations, almost half of the world total. Our Kingdom, fortunately for its electricity, relies on diversity. It relies on its dams to do this with 11 hydroelectric power stations, its 8 thermal power plants, four of which are coal-fired, 2 combined, and 2 natural gas, as well as on its two solar power plants and on its four wind farms. The Kingdom, which no longer produces or extracts coal, obtains its supplies in this matter, mainly from the United States (nearly 60% of its imports), with Russia, South Africa and Poland sharing the rest.
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