The National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) has published its 2022 annual report, revealing that the contribution of renewable energies to meeting national electricity demand in Morocco reached around 16.1% this that year.
More specifically, Morocco produced 41,420 gigawatt hours of electricity last year, of which 10,156 gigawatt hours were produced by ONEE plants, representing 24.52% of total production. The rest of the electricity was produced by private companies.
Energy Morocco, a leading company, plays a major role in power generation in Morocco, meeting 38% of national demand with its installed generation capacity of approximately 2,056 megawatts.
At the end of 2022, the total installed power in Morocco reached 11,055 megawatts, registering an increase of 0.79% compared to the previous year. Renewable energy accounts for 2,384 megawatts of this capacity, or 21% of the total.
Morocco has plans to generate electricity from renewable sources, including wind capacity of 1,153 megawatts and solar capacity of around 831 megawatts.
However, the share of renewable energy in installed capacity is still far from reaching the target set by Morocco, which aims for a share of 52% by 2030. This will require additional annual investments from the private sector.
According to official ONEE data, coal accounts for 37% of installed capacity, or about 4,416 megawatts, while hydroelectric plants have a capacity of 1,306 megawatts.
Rural electrification has also seen a significant improvement, with a rate reaching 99.86% in 2022, compared to 99.83% in 2021 and only about 45% in the year 2000. In addition, 178 villages have been connected to the interconnected network in 2022, thus supplying electricity to 4,612 homes, or approximately 25,000 inhabitants.
These achievements required the construction of nearly 350 km of medium voltage (MV) lines, nearly 1,100 km of low voltage (LV) lines and 138 transformer stations, for an overall power of approximately 15.8 MVA , according to the report.
Since 1996, ONEE has continued its electrification efforts. The report highlights that since the launch of the Global Rural Electrification Program (PERG) in 1996, ONEE has electrified 41,649 villages by providing access to electricity to 2,154,105 households through networks.
In addition, 51,559 homes in 3,663 villages were equipped with individual photovoltaic kits between 1998 and 2009, of which 3,505 villages (50,086 homes) were then connected to the grid due to strong demand from residents, local elected officials and authorities.
The achievements of ONEE, which now has 6.9 million customers at the end of 2022, also include the electrification of 19,438 households in 900 villages, as part of the solar project at the level of INDH communes between 2015 and 2018.
Thus, according to the ONEE report, approximately 13 million inhabitants have benefited from electrification thanks to PERG. In terms of infrastructure, the PERG enabled the construction of more than 50,700 km of medium voltage lines, more than 135,800 km of low voltage lines and 25,641 transformer stations, for a power of 1,973 MVA.