Morocco has built one of Africa’s most extensive and reliable electricity systems, with almost universal access, large thermal power stations, major renewable energy complexes and the continent’s strongest power connection with Europe. Its next infrastructure challenge is more demanding than electrification alone. The country must now move growing amounts of wind and solar power from remote production zones to cities, factories and export-oriented industries while maintaining reliable supply.
At the end of 2024, Morocco had approximately 12,000 MW of installed electricity capacity. Renewable sources represented more than 45% of that capacity, yet coal still produced close to 60% of the country’s electricity. This difference between installed capacity and actual generation explains much of Morocco’s current investment strategy. Building additional renewable projects will not be enough. Transmission lines, substations, storage facilities, flexible generation and regional interconnections must expand at the same time.
ONEE Remains at the Centre of the Moroccan Power System
The National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water, known as ONEE, operates Morocco’s national transmission grid and remains the central buyer within the electricity system. Independent producers have become increasingly important in generation, but ONEE continues to balance supply and demand, manage high-voltage infrastructure and deliver electricity to distributors and major customers.
Morocco’s transmission system includes lines operating from 60 kV to 400 kV. By the end of 2023, the network extended for roughly 29,000 kilometres and included more than 550 substations. This provides a strong base for national service, although the network was originally developed around conventional power stations and established demand centres rather than a power mix dominated by dispersed renewable resources.
The country’s main electricity demand is concentrated around Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier, Kenitra, Marrakech and major industrial corridors. By contrast, some of its strongest wind and solar resources are found along the Atlantic coast, in the southern regions and around inland desert areas. Connecting these areas requires long transmission corridors capable of carrying large volumes of variable electricity.
The grid must also serve industries with demanding power requirements. Morocco’s automotive factories, phosphate processing facilities, ports, railways, desalination plants and planned hydrogen projects all depend on reliable electricity. Economic growth is therefore increasing demand at the same time that the generation mix is becoming more complex.
Renewable Expansion Is Changing the Geography of the Grid
Projects such as the Noor solar complex near Ouarzazate and large wind farms along the Atlantic coast have made Morocco a major renewable energy market. However, these assets are useful only when their electricity can reach consumers without congestion or curtailment.
ONEE’s transmission investment programme for 2024–2029 includes new and reinforced infrastructure operating at several voltage levels between 60 kV and 400 kV. The programme is intended to connect additional renewable generation, improve regional power flows and strengthen system stability. Financing from European institutions is supporting both physical grid development and the financial position of the national utility.
The scale of the next expansion phase is substantial. ONEE’s 2025–2030 strategy calls for around 15 GW of additional generating capacity, including approximately 13 GW of renewable energy. The announced investment requirement is about 120 billion Moroccan dirhams. Much of this new capacity will require dedicated evacuation lines, upgraded substations and stronger links between southern generation zones and northern demand centres.
Morocco is also developing longer high-voltage corridors to support wind development in its southern territories. These projects are intended to move electricity northward while extending reliable power to areas that are far from the traditional industrial core. The result will be a more geographically integrated electricity system, but also one that requires more advanced control, forecasting and balancing.
The Spain–Morocco Power Link Provides Strategic Flexibility
Morocco occupies an unusual position in African energy infrastructure because its power system is physically connected to continental Europe. Two 400 kV submarine links cross the Strait of Gibraltar between Morocco and Spain, providing a combined technical capacity of approximately 1,400 MW.
Commercial transfer capacity is lower than the physical rating, at roughly 900 MW from Spain to Morocco and 600 MW in the opposite direction. Even so, the connection gives Morocco access to the Iberian electricity market and allows both systems to exchange power when prices, demand or generation conditions make trade attractive.
Historically, Morocco has often imported electricity from Spain. As Moroccan renewable capacity grows, the same infrastructure could support larger exports during periods of strong wind or solar generation. The interconnection also provides a source of emergency support and balancing capacity when domestic plants are unavailable.
A third Morocco–Spain connection has been under consideration, while a separate direct link with Portugal has also been assessed. These projects would deepen Morocco’s integration with Europe, although their development depends on costs, market rules, system needs and agreement between national grid operators.
The wider strategic value is significant. Morocco is not only building a domestic electricity network; it is positioning itself between European, North African and potentially West African energy markets.
Pumped Storage and Batteries Are Becoming Essential Assets
A system with large amounts of solar and wind power must be able to respond when production changes. Morocco already uses pumped-storage hydropower for this purpose. The Afourer complex provides several hundred megawatts of flexible capacity, while the 350 MW Abdelmoumen pumped-storage plant has added another major balancing asset.
Pumped-storage facilities move water to an upper reservoir when electricity is available and release it through turbines when demand rises. They can therefore absorb excess renewable generation, support the grid during evening demand peaks and provide reserve power following sudden changes in supply.
Morocco has also moved toward procuring large battery-storage systems at several locations. Batteries can respond more quickly than conventional plants and can support frequency control, local congestion management and short-duration balancing. They are particularly useful near areas where renewable generation is expanding faster than the transmission network.
Storage will not remove the need for new power lines. It can, however, reduce stress on the network and help Morocco use more of the electricity produced by its renewable plants.
Morocco’s Gas Infrastructure Remains Less Developed Than Its Power Grid
Natural gas is expected to provide flexible generation as Morocco reduces its dependence on coal, but the country does not yet have a fully developed domestic gas network.
For many years, Morocco received Algerian gas through the Maghreb–Europe Gas Pipeline, which crossed Moroccan territory before continuing to Spain. Direct Algerian supplies through the route ended in 2021. Morocco later began using part of the same pipeline in reverse, importing liquefied natural gas through Spanish terminals and moving it southward to Moroccan power stations.
This arrangement restored limited gas supply without requiring an immediate Moroccan LNG import terminal, but it does not provide the scale or geographic reach needed for a large gas market. Imports through Spain have been sufficient for existing gas-fired plants, yet future power generation and industrial demand would require much greater infrastructure.
Morocco subsequently proposed a floating LNG terminal at the developing Nador West Med port, together with pipelines connecting the terminal to the existing gas system and industrial zones around Kenitra and Mohammedia. The government launched procurement activity in 2025 but paused the tenders in February 2026 while reassessing the project’s assumptions.
The pause does not remove Morocco’s need for gas infrastructure. It shows that the preferred location, timing, financing model and expected demand remain under review. Until a larger import and pipeline system is completed, Morocco’s gas supply will remain dependent on European terminals and a relatively narrow transport route.
Ports and Industrial Zones Are Expanding the Energy Map
Morocco’s coastal infrastructure plays a central role in national energy security. Coal, petroleum products and other fuels enter through ports, while industrial centres around Jorf Lasfar, Mohammedia, Tangier and Kenitra create large concentrations of electricity and fuel demand.
Nador West Med is intended to become another major industrial and energy centre on the Mediterranean coast. Its role could include LNG imports, fuel storage, manufacturing and future hydrogen-related activity. Further south, new ports and industrial projects may support renewable electricity, desalination and energy exports.
These developments will add new demand outside Morocco’s older urban centres. Grid planning must therefore anticipate not only household consumption but also large industrial loads that may appear quickly once factories, ports or hydrogen projects begin operating.
The Network Will Determine the Pace of Morocco’s Energy Transition
Morocco already has the generation projects, institutions and international connections needed to remain an important regional energy market. The limiting factor is increasingly the infrastructure between production and consumption.
New transmission corridors must connect renewable zones to demand centres. Storage must reduce the effects of variable generation. European interconnections must be used more effectively, while the country must decide how much new gas infrastructure it needs during the transition away from coal.
Morocco’s renewable targets will ultimately depend less on the number of projects announced than on whether ONEE can expand, finance and operate the grid required to support them.
