Rabat – Morocco’s Abderrahim El Hafidi, the director general of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), will assume the prestigious role of chairing the Board of Directors of the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP) in 2021.
“By assuming the role of President of this alliance, the Director General of ONEE will be called upon to promote exchanges of thoughts and strategic information having an impact on the profound transformations expected in the electric power sector, in particular, aspects related to decarbonization, digitalization, decentralization and deregulation,” reads a press release announcing El Hafidi’s new role.
Following the official appointment, El Hafidi will oversee some of the world’s leading electricians. ONEE is the only representative of African and Arab countries in GSEP, which is comprised of international companies such as EDF-France, ENEL-Italy, AEP-USA, SGCC-China, Kensai Electric Power-Japan, Hydro-Quebec-Canada, and RusHydro-Russia.
The GSEP alliance heads the world’s leading electricity companies with the overarching mission to promote sustainable energy development by widening access to electricity across the globe. According to the GSEP website, the alliance is taking concrete actions to “promote cleaner electricity generation, energy efficiency, and electrification as pathways to reach global development and climate goals.”
El Hafidi will play a key role in facilitating the CEO-led alliance. He began as an observer member of GSEP in 2018 before being unanimously admitted to the organization in 2019. With Morocco now leading the Board of Directors, there is hope that Africa’s energy issues and challenges will receive more attention.
The Moroccan expert is the first person from an African country to lead the GSEP in the 28-year history of the sustainable energy organization. El Hafidi will replace Nicholas K. Akins from American Electric Power when he steps into his role as chairman of the board.
