Morocco has sat an ambitious renewable development target to decrease its energy dependency as the energy mix of this emerging country was, up to now, mainly based on imported oil.
Thanks to its several initiatives, Morocco is ranked seventh in the world in the 2016 Climate Change Performance Index and is the only non-European country in the top 20. It's also one of only five countries to have achieved a "sufficient" rating for its efforts to keep warming below 2°C in the Climate Action Tracker (3).
This article gives an overview of the Moroccan energy strategy, its perspectives as well as the currents projects and initiatives that have made this country a leader in terms of green initiatives.
To face the challenges of urban development and demographic growth in emerging countries, several African countries have chosen to develop smart cities. Today, more than half of the Moroccan population lives in the city. This share will increase to nearly 70% in 2050 (Casablanca as an example will have more than 5 million inhabitants).
The development of Casablanca Smart City must take up new challenges (financial, social, energy, etc). This project should work on the organization of space, optimization of resources and the improvement of the relationship with citizens.
The biggest Moroccan city has a pilot role within the kingdom towards the modernization of the urban space. Since October 2015, Casablanca has been the first African city to join the network of twenty-five smart cities selected by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE3), the largest association of digital and information technology professionals in the world.
A second project, TangerTech was inaugurated by the king Mohamed VI in March 2017 and should become within 10 years the biggest technopole in Africa.
The figure 7 below presents the specificities of these two projects.
Smart cities in Morocco
Read the first part of our Article on "Morocco, the Eldorado of renewable energies"
Faced with the different resources challenges, Morocco have set renewables target to decrease its energy dependency. This strategy would open new opportunities to integrate smart cities and to boost local employment and development.
Moreover, Morocco is also considering nuclear power as a baseload energy production as it has large uranium resources (42) estimated to 6.9 million tonnes according to IAEA.
The SWOT matrix below sums up the Moroccan energy situation. (38)
Author:
Amal Abid, Consultant
Anthony Dos Reis, Manager
References: