In the morning of Monday 4th November 2014, national and international authorities, scientists, businessmen and industrials gathered in the Office des Changes fairground in Casablanca (Morocco) on the occasion of the official opening of the first edition of the International Photovoltaic Exhibition & Conference: Photovoltaïca.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Moroccan Minister of Energy, Dr. Abdelkader Amara; the Gabonese Minister of Energy, Mr Désiré Guedon; the Moroccan Minister of Economy, Mr Mohamed Boussaid; the Executive Director of the Energy Investments Company (SIE), Mr Ahmed Baroudi; the Executive Director of the Moroccan Electricity Board (ONEE), Mr Ali Fassi Fihri; the President of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN), Mr Mustapha Bakkoury; the CEO of Ming Yang Wind Power, Mr Simon Yu and the President of Forum de Paris, Mr Albert Mallet.
This ceremony was the chosen frame to proceed to the signing of five agreements between the SIE and important groups such as Luxel, Kenergia, Attijariwafa Banque or Banque Populaire.
During Photovoltaïca, the Moroccan Minister of Energy unveiled the national roadmap for photovoltaics. A roadmap that is based on 5 fundamental pillars:
1) Development of programs for large and medium solar power generation plants.
-By the ONEE (20 to 30 MW) with a 300MW generating capacity,
-By MASEN, that will develop a series of solar farms the first of which in Ouarzazate with a capacity of 50MW,
-By private developers (for VHV-HV consumers). This will be done by zones and the different solar zones reserved to private developers will be presented during the first quarter of 2015.
2) Opening of the medium voltage market.
The decree approving the conditions and rules governing the opening of the medium voltage will be adopted early 2015.
3) Opening of the low voltage market.
Studies already deployed have assessed the economic potential of solar PV energy connected to the low voltage at 4.5GW by 2030. The necessary amendments of law 13-09 are expected for the second half of 2015.
4) The establishment of an Independent Regulatory Authority.
The authority shall be created during 2015 and will ensure compliance with applicable rules, will keep operators’ competitiveness viable and shall define the fees and access conditions to the electricity grid.
5) Implementation of R&D programs dedicated to PV and industrial integration.
The objective is to foster the creation of a local photovoltaic industry that can respond to the energy needs of the country.
The Conference was structured in 7 panels that focused on the PV sector and on the different issues currently in need of answers as well as on the new technologies existing in the present market. Thanks to the participation of representatives from some of the most important organisms and companies such as the African Development Bank, the Helmholtz Institute, LG Electronics, First Solar, EDF EN, GIZ, the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon PV, Abengoa Solar, Enel Green Power, SunPower, Brookstone Partners, SolarWorld, etc.; participants to the round tables were able to witness extremely interesting and rich discussions.
“I highly appreciated the commitment of the SIE and IRESEN in making a very good event regrouping such number of good companies and institutions around the photovoltaic topic. Now more than ever Morocco showed a positive sign for potential investors and international companies. We, as SolarWorld, always believed in the Moroccan market and this since 4 years just after the announcement of the 13-09 law and are looking forward to invest more and develop together with Moroccan companies the PV market in a very near future.”
Ali Ghaouti, Business Development Manager MENA. SolarWorld.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the level of the participants to this first edition of an event exclusively dedicated to the photovoltaic energy.”
Jean-Paul Mossoux, Key Expert Renewable Energy. Tractebel Engineering.
“I really enjoyed participating in this conference. My personal assessment, as well as that of probably the rest of participants, is very positive.”
Elisa Prieto Casaña, Strategy Director. Abengoa Solar.
“This conference comes at the right time, when Morocco is taking political decisions to produce several hundreds of megawatt electricity from concentrated solar power and PV plants. It has put together researchers, consultants, managers, and other authorities, including university professors, and even master and PhD students. All are participating in the panels to identify the many existing problems and issues on renewable energy facing us today and to discuss the necessary solutions, actions, policies and programs to overcome these problems and issues.”
Ahmed Ennaoui, Head of research group. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
I. Framework partnership agreement for the accompaniment in the energy development in Morocco.
Signatories:
Energy Investment Company SIE (Société d’Investissements Energétiques)
Attijariwafa Bank
II. Partnership agreement to facilitate the energy transition and the development of projects in a sector that is strategic for the country.
Signatories:
Energy Investment Company SIE (Société d’Investissements Energétiques)
Banque Populaire
III. Memorandum of Understanding to create a company for the production of solar electricity to feed the energy needs of the agricultural cooperative COPAG.
Signatories:
Energy Investment Company SIE (Société d’Investissements Energétiques)
COPAG
Luxel
IV. Memorandum of Understanding for the development of an industrial ecosystem for the manufacturing of the components of the whole value chain of photovoltaics.
Signatories:
Energy Investment Company SIE (Société d’Investissements Energétiques)
Kenergia
V. Cooperation and Partnership agreement to join efforts in order to boost private investment that will result in the development of the Region de l’Oriental.
Signatories:
Energy Investment Company SIE (Société d’Investissements Energétiques)
Regional Invetment Center of the Region de l’Oriental