- Morocco has earmarked investments of more than Dh90 billion ($10.29 billion) in the national energy sector by 2015, the country's Minister of Energy, Benkhadra Amina has said in a statement.
The government statement said Morocco seeks to expand electricity generation from wind six times from 6,000 MW currently to bring the share of total generation power from winds to 12 percent by 2015.
The minister also said government will involve both private and public players to implement the vast majority of the investments to be made in the next six years.
“This plan links the government and the private sector to implement a strategy aimed at securing energy supply and diversifying energy sources at the right costs,” she said.
Ms Amina further said the new strategy of electricity would guarantee Morocco’s economy and population needs in energy with the very affordable prices.
Morocco's electricity consumption is expected to increase by 7 to 8.5 percent per year in the next 10 years from 5 per cent average in the past five years, officials said.
Local reports said the government is also under pressure to cap the bill for energy, 97 percent of which is imported, saying the electricity costs strain its trade balance and test its capacity to avoid a wide budget deficit.
The national statistics revealed that the energy imports value rose to Dh71 billion ($8.1 billion) last year from Dh53 billion ($6 billion) in 2007.
The Moroccan minister said there are new laws made to pave the way for the extension and expansion of the energy sector. He also announced a shake up in his department to steer and regulate the transformation of the national energy system.
Business leaders were worried that Morocco might fail to produce enough power to meet the needs of an economy growing at an average 5.3 per cent in the past five years according to national statistics.
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