A Moroccan study finds that covering 40% of dam surfaces with floating solar could meet national electricity needs while cutting water evaporation by 30%.
Moroccan researchers estimate that covering 40% of the country’s conventional dam surfaces with floating solar panels would be enough to meet the entire national electricity demand. The study, published on May 11 in the journal npj Clean Energy by Abdelmalek Essaadi University and Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, analyzes the potential of this technology across the kingdom’s 58 monitored dams.
For Professor Aboubakr El Hammoumi, the lead researcher, reducing evaporation is the strongest argument for deploying floating solar. According to the study’s data, the panels would cut evaporation by about 30% on the covered surfaces. Morocco loses around 909 million cubic meters of water annually through evaporation from its dams. In a context of worsening water stress, much like other African countries such as Ethiopia, where solar energy is caught in a China-US rivalry, the technology offers a dual benefit.
The study highlights that even a modest deployment, on just 1% of the total reservoir surface area (i.e., 4.3 km² out of the 433 km² that the dams cover), would already make a significant contribution to national energy needs.
Morocco currently has no dedicated regulatory framework for floating solar on public water infrastructure. According to El Hammoumi, tender models, regulatory guidelines, and coordination between water and energy regulators and developers must be defined before large-scale deployment can become financeable. In Europe, Voltalia recently commissioned 26.9 MW of solar in France, illustrating the maturity of established regulatory environments.
Two pilot projects are nevertheless underway. The most advanced, at the Oued Rmel reservoir near Tangier, is being launched by Tanger Med Group in partnership with the Ministry of Energy Transition. With a capacity of 13 megawatts (MW), it is expected to cover 14% of the port complex’s energy needs, with over 400 floating platforms already installed. A second project of 360 kilowatts (kW) has been commissioned at Sidi Slimane.
The water crisis has worsened in recent years. Morocco’s dam reserves fell from 8.9 billion cubic meters in 2018 to 4.4 billion in 2024, according to the Ministry of Equipment and Water. In March 2025, Minister Nizar Baraka warned that water availability per capita had dropped to around 600 cubic meters per year, down from 2,600 cubic meters in 1960, and could fall to 500 cubic meters by 2035-2040. The international water stress threshold is set at 1,000 cubic meters.
On the energy front, Morocco added 204 MW of new large-scale solar capacity in 2025, bringing its cumulative capacity to 1.29 gigawatts (GW), and began construction of the 305 MW Noor Atlas program in March 2026. The country targets 52% renewable energy in its installed electricity mix by 2030. According to the study, floating solar investment costs are 10% to 25% higher than ground-mounted installations, but yield gains from water cooling, which lowers module temperatures by 4°C to 6°C, partly offset this premium. IRENA notes that solar with storage is already more competitive than fossil fuels, strengthening the appeal of floating photovoltaic for a country facing water urgency.
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