Rabat – A report by the UK audit and professional services firm Ernst & Young released on Tuesday revealed that Morocco’s renewable energy markets are becoming increasingly attractive for investors, while some European markets are currently facing potential hurdles that could threaten their current high ranking statuses.
In the most recent Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index – an annual ranking of the 40 most attractive renewable energy markets worldwide – Morocco ranked 14th, ahead of all other Arab nations, and second in Africa only to South Africa.
The United States leads the top 10 countries. It is followed by China, India, Chile, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, France, Canada and Australia.
According to the report, emerging economies that have been successful in attracting renewable energy funding have invested in mapping the available resources, and have made the information public.
“This is part of the reason we’ve seen very competitive prices in some recent wind and solar tenders,” the report stated, citing projects in Morocco and Jordan.
The report revealed that 2016 has already been “a productive year for Morocco with March seeing the award of 850MW of wind capacity across five projects – representing $1.1b of investment – to a consortium comprising Enel Green Power, Siemens and Nareva Holding. The tender returned record low bid prices, averaging just $30/MWh.”
A significant development also took place this year in Morocco, when in February, King Mohammed VI inaugurated first phase of the Noor Ouarzazate concentrated solar power complex – the largest in the world – and launched construction works for Noor II and Noor III. They will represent 350MW, and are scheduled to come online by 2018, making it the largest Concentrated Solar Power complex in the world.
Ernst & Young stated that the European markets appear to be scaling back their ambitions as “they address the challenges of marrying up increasingly mainstream renewable with a legacy of centralized conventional power generation.”
