A cooperation agreement between the European Investment Bank and the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy aims to assist and advance knowledge in the field of wind energy by establishing a number of initiatives totaling €2 million.

The Kingdom has for the first time signed a cooperation agreement with a European financier to support offshore wind energy extraction. It relates to the development of energy extraction projects on the Atlantic Ocean, which will be overseen by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy.

This analysis is consistent with Mazen’s efforts as a key figure in Morocco’s efforts to secure more than 52% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

This mission’s goals include a technical and financial assessment of a potential offshore wind project, the identification and analysis of any necessary preliminary technical, economic, environmental, and social studies, as well as a thorough assessment of the project’s advantages.

The EIB Group’s experience in creating a new generation of offshore floating wind platforms will be useful to the evaluation mission.

With the help of the European Commission, the European Investment Bank recently completed three financing operations for wind farms. By doing so, he demonstrated his expertise in financing offshore wind farms in nations like Portugal, Norway, and Scotland.

The European Investment Bank, which manages the FEMIP Trust Fund and receives funding from 17 EU member states, the European Commission, and the United Kingdom, established the fund in 2004. This technical assistance operation is a part of that fund.

By funding project planning and execution, capacity building initiatives, and risk capital, the fund aims to ease investment, fill financing gaps in the European Neighboring Countries, and support private sector development and social and economic infrastructure in the Mediterranean region.

According to Lionel Rabel, Director of Operations for EU Neighbors, “the financing of this study to examine the potential of offshore winds for the Kingdom of Morocco fits perfectly with the EIB’s aim to promote the growth of renewable energies and support innovation.”

“Our role is to provide financing and solutions to combat climate change more effectively, and through this technical assistance mission, we contribute to the Kingdom’s ambitious climate goals and we also participate in the development of a new cutting-edge sector on a continental scale,” the same director continued.

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Leila Benali, the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, emphasized the need of regional integration in terms of sustainable energy in Africa on Thursday, with a focus on South-South cooperation as well as South-North cooperation, in collaboration with European partners.

The manager, addressing on the sidelines of a meeting on the prospects and difficulties of Africa’s energy transition, convened at the Morocco Pavilion at COP 26, urged taking advantage of available financing to ensure the transition’s success.

Morocco convened a meeting on the prospects and difficulties of energy transition in Africa on the sidelines of the World Climate Summit (COP 26), with the involvement of various figures from the fields of energy, finance, and development.

The event provided an opportunity to address the benefits and challenges of a successful energy transition in Africa, as well as solutions to speed up access to sustainable energy.

The Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Lela Benali, emphasized the importance of South-South cooperation in this field, saying, “Morocco is trying to consolidate regional integration in Africa in order to ensure everyone has access to sustainable energy.”

Africa must use research, innovation, industrial integration, and assistance for the growth of the regional energy market to turn today’s issues into investment possibilities.”

In this regard, the management emphasized the need of taking advantage of available funding and collaboration opportunities in order to make this shift a success. This entails, among other things, establishing electricity, gas, and other links amongst the continent’s countries.

Janet Rogan, the regional ambassador for the Middle East and Africa at COP 26, said, “Africa confronts enormous challenges, with approximately 600 million people without access to energy across the continent.” Because of its size, the continent also has a transmission network that isn’t always up to date.”

As a result, she maintained, people in Africa must have access to energy and overcome structural challenges in order to flourish and grow socioeconomically.

This is the hope that COP 26 provides today, she noted, because the Summit has opened the door to several other new investments and improved financial availability.

Morocco has always strived to accelerate the implementation of the renewable energy agenda, in addition to hosting two COPs in the past, according to Ms. Rogan, adding that it is a sector that now has attractive opportunities thanks to new technologies, the cost of which has been greatly reduced, making them viable options for developing countries.

The Ambassador also mentioned that the Kingdom is cooperating and sharing its expertise with other African countries, “which means we have chances and solutions inside the continent.”

The speakers at this discussion were unanimous in highlighting the importance of the Kingdom’s role in fostering a low-carbon energy transition in Africa, both through its public and commercial sectors. The task is to take advantage of the continent’s resource potential and develop solutions that deliver modern types of energy to ensure that all Africans have access to reliable energy.

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Aziz Rabbah, Minister of Energy, Mines and Environment, recently held talks with the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, Seleshi Bekele, via videoconference, in preparation for the work of the Moroccan-Ethiopian alliance to access sustainable energy.

According to a communiqué of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and the Environment, these talks, which took place in the presence of the Ethiopian Minister Delegate for Energy,  Frehiwot Woldehana, and the President and Director General of the Moroccan Solar Energy Agency (Masen), Mustapha Bakkoury, mainly dealt with the progress made in the works aimed at implementing this alliance.

The communiqué indicated that the two parties were briefed on the final stage of governance projects and the road map for the aforementioned coalition, adding that the two sides also agreed to launch a phase of mobilizing strategic partners for the technical and legal establishment of the coalition secretariat, and work to mobilize the necessary funds by the end of the current year.

According to the same source, the detailed work plan for 2021 was also approved.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Rabbah and Bekele called on technical teams in the two countries to continue their work and consultations in order to hold the first meeting of the advisory council and launch the alliance as soon as possible, within the horizon of the actual launch of its legal structure, on the sidelines of the high-level dialogue that will be held next September in New York, and the organization of the first practical activities on the occasion of the “COP26” conference scheduled to be held next November in Glasgow.

It is noteworthy that the alliance was announced during the Climate Action Summit in 2019, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, with the aim of ensuring universal access to sustainable energy in the least developed and other developing countries, in line with the 2030 Agenda.

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