Rabat, July 11, 2011 (MAP)
Morocco and France called, on Monday in Rabat, upon the member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) to sign a Euro-Mediterranean energy pact.
“We call on the countries of the Union for the Mediterranean to conclude a Euro-Mediterranean energy pact, with the aim to meet the challenges that we face and maximize our potentials with an essential co-development spirit,” Moroccan and French energy ministers said in a joint statement.
The French Minister of Industry, Energy and the Digital economy, Eric Besson, said France is a partner in Morocco’s solar plan. “This is a very ambitious plan which will be the keystone for the Mediterranean solar plan,” he added.
“To achieve this comprehensive partnership, interconnections should be developed,” Besson explained.
“All depends on the way Morocco will be linked to Spain, and Spain to France,” he noted.
For her part, Morocco’s Energy Minister, Amina Benkhadra, underscored that the integration in the Euro-Mediterranean area represents a key element in Morocco’s energy strategy.
“Thanks to its privileged geographic location, Morocco aims to play its pivotal role in the electrical interconnection between the two shores of the Mediterranean,” she said.
The Moroccan-French initiative comprises three main aspects, notably accelerating funding for the Moroccan solar plan to generate an additional 20GW of electrical capacity in the north and east of the Mediterranean.
Besson is leading a French delegation of energy enterprises on a working visit to Morocco where he is due to meet several senior officials including, Foreign Minister and the Chairman of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy.
On the occasion of this visit, the French union of renewable energies and the association of solar and wind energy industries signed a cooperation agreement on training, research, industrial production and enterprises development.
Morocco’s solar energy project includes 5 major generation sites which will be completed by 2020, namely in Ouarzazate (500 megawatts), Laâyoune, Boujdour, Tarfaya, Ain Beni Mathar.
Spanning over an overall area of 10,000 hectares, the project will enable Morocco to reduce its energy expenses by 500 million dollars annually, and will prevent the emission of 3.7 million tones of CO ² per year.
By 2020, the project will allow for covering 42% of Morocco’s electricity needs.
Picture credit: euro-mediterranee.blogspot.com
