Lisbon – A ministerial declaration on conducting a technical and economic feasibility study for the electric interconnection project between Morocco and Portugal was inked, on Wednesday in Lisbon, by Moroccan energy minister Abdelkader Amara and Portuguese economy minister Manuel Caldeira Cabral.
With a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, this first interconnection, which will help the two countries to exchange electricity, shows the will of Rabat and Lisbon to build together a regional energy hub.
The agreement was signed during a ceremony attended mainly by Portuguese state secretary for energy Jorge Seguro Sanches, Morocco’s ambassador in Lisbon Karima Benyaich, director of Moroccan electricity and drinking water office (ONEE) Ali Fassi Fihri and secretary general of the ministry Abderrahim El Hafidi.
On this occasion, Amara said he was upbeat about the prospects of this project, underlining that Morocco and Portugal are determined to make headway with this interconnection project, which will be very structuring and link for the first time two countries in the field of electricity.
“We have won this bet since the signature of the first agreement during the Moroccan-Portuguese Joint Committee, chaired by the two heads of governments in April 2015,” the minister recalled.
The project will also inject electricity from renewable sources to solve the issue of climate change given that 60% of climate imbalance is linked to energy.
For his part, the Portuguese economy minister said that the study is an important step to develop a broad partnership in the energy sector and an opportunity to reinforce the internationalization and competitiveness of the Moroccan and Portuguese economies.
