Rabat – The National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) announced that the heatwave Morocco has been experiencing since the beginning of July 5 led to an increase in electricity consumption across the country.
ONEE said in a statement yesterday that the demand for electrical energy is mainly explained by the massive use of air conditioning in the tertiary and residential sectors.
The significant increase is also attributed to the use of agricultural pumping for irrigation owing to the extreme temperatures currently experienced throughout most of Morocco.
A peak of 6,710 megawatts was recorded for electricity demand on July 12 at around 9:45 p.m.
The number indicates an increase of 270 megawatts compared to 2020.
Power demand peaked at 6,634 megawatts at 12 in the afternoon, a 279 megawatts increase from 2020.
Earlier this week, the General Directorate of Meteorology (DMN) said that the absolute records for maximum temperatures have been broken between Friday and Sunday in several regions last week across Morocco.
In a statement, DMN said that the meteorological situation was characterized by a severe heatwave that impacted most of the country.
“This scorching weather is due to the rise of a mass of dry and warm air from the south,” the DMN said.
The situation caused a significant rise in temperatures and exceeded the average monthly temperature by 5-12 degrees.
DMN announced that Saturday was the hottest day recorded with exceptional temperatures that were never previously measured in certain regions.
The weather directorate emphasized that the heatwave is expected to continue in several regions, including central Morocco, south, and south-east of the country this week.
DMN emphasized that there will be a drop in temperatures in the North and East of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Last week during the weekend, temperatures reached over 49 Celsius degrees in some regions, including in Sidi Slimane.
Beni Mellal recorded 47.8 degrees, while Meknes recorded 46.8 degrees.
In Oujda, temperatures reached 47.3 degrees.
In 2020, Morocco recorded the hottest year. DMN announced that last year was hotter than 2017 and 2010, with a national annual average temperature anomaly of +1.4 °C compared to the climatological average over the period 1981-2010.
