Country with No Oil or Gas Reserves Plans $9 Billion in Solar Energy Systems Investment

Morocco, which plans to invest $9 billion to build five solar power stations, had opted for solar thermal technology for the first unit, to be set up in the southern Ourzazate area, its solar energy agency chief said.

The North African country’s government had previously not revealed which solar technology it would choose, with officials saying they were open to all types.

“The first stage of the $9 billion solar project will be achieved to satisfy the needs of the country’s electricity operator ONE, which required the storage of power,” Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) chief executive officer, Mustapha Bakoury, said on Friday. The project will involve five solar power generation sites across Morocco and will produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020, Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra said at a ceremony in Ouarzazate, south of the Atlas mountains, to launch the scheme.

Morocco is the only North African country with no oil production of its own and eager to develop renewable energy sources to cut its oil and gas imports.

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