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Morocco’s solar sector is gradually shifting towards new technologies. Driven by falling photovoltaic and battery costs, several projects that had been stalled for years are now moving forward. However, two obstacles remain: cumbersome administrative procedures and an incomplete regulatory framework.
Over the past twelve months, announcements of renewable energy projects in Morocco have multiplied. Most rely on the same technology: photovoltaics. Whether it is OCP’s solar farmsor the floating solar power plant at Tanger Med, photovoltaic technology is increasingly dominating the renewable energy sector.
Created in 2010 to steer the development of renewable energy and help raise its share to 52% of installed electricity capacity by 2030, the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) has also announced numerous photovoltaic projects in recent months. Does this signal a new boom in solar energy in Morocco?
These projects are nothing new, explains Amin Bennouna, a renewable energy expert. They are essentially solar projects that have been revived after several years of delays, and they primarily reflect the decline of concentrated solar power (CSP) technology in favour of photovoltaics (PV).
In March, Masen and the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) signed power purchase agreements for the Noor Atlas solar program, which предусматри six photovoltaic power plants with a combined capacity of 305 MW. In mid-October, Masen also announced the launch of the prequalification process for the photovoltaic power plants under the Noor PV Multisites program. According to Amin Bennouna, this program had already been part of ONEE’s plans for at least six years.
Meanwhile, in early September, the Chinese press reported that China Energy had signed an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract for the first phase of the Noor Midelt I solar project. Information released by the Chinese company revealed a change in technology: the initially planned CSP-PV hybrid system will be replaced by a solution combining photovoltaics (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS).
This shift reflects the decline in solar module prices and advances in photovoltaic technology over the past decade or so, alongside the more recent drop in battery costs. As a result, photovoltaic systems can now be paired with batteries to store some of the electricity generated during the day, pushing CSP technology into the background.
The Noor Midelt program, presented in 2009 during the initial discussions on Morocco’s solar plan alongside the Noor Ouarzazate project, illustrates the challenges of selecting a technology that can keep pace with changing costs and storage requirements.“Noor Ouarzazate was designed to be launched quickly, while the Noor Midelt project had not yet been precisely defined. Then, around 2012, it was decided to break it down into three phases and define its geographic location” recalls Amin Bennouna.
For Noor Ouarzazate, CSP technology was selected. The expert notes that in the 2000s, when these projects were being considered, the cost per kilowatt-hour generated by CSP was lower than that of photovoltaic electricity. “For solar installations with storage, CSP technology, which allows heat to be stored, was also less expensive than batteries,” he emphasizes.
In 2016, when Masen assessed the technological options for the Noor Midelt program, it selected a hybrid solution combining CSP and photovoltaics for the first plant, Noor Midelt I. Although photovoltaics became more competitive than solar thermal power during the 2010s, CSP still offered a cheaper way to store energy than batteries. The hybrid system therefore combined photovoltaic panels, without integrated storage, with a thermal storage system provided by CSP.
However, in 2024, the shutdown of the Noor Ouarzazate III plant following a leak in the molten salt reservoir used to store thermal energy changed the equation.“For Noor Midelt I, replacing the entire project with the PV-BESS model took at least a year, if not two” notes Amin Bennouna. In the meantime, the Noor Midelt II and III projects were designed directly according to this same model. “It’s not impossible that these plants will be completed before Noor Midelt I, since everything has gone according to plan” he adds.
Already behind schedule, Noor Midelt I faced further delays as its tendering process was reconfigured. “We don’t have a problem with solar technology in Morocco, but we do have a problem with the timeline” says the expert. Some tenders are declared unsuccessful, while administrative procedures can drag on. One major factor is Law 13.09 on renewable energy, enacted in 2010, which has yet to be fully implemented. Several decrees required to enforce the law have still not been published.
Amin Bennouna cites the Noor PV II project as an example. Initially, it was intended to supply electricity to customers connected to the medium-voltage grid. However, without the necessary implementing decree, the project could not be connected to that grid and was restricted to the high-voltage network. It was subsequently redesigned to supply customers connected to the high-voltage grid instead. “That changes a lot of things. The number of customers connected to the high- and medium-voltage grids differs, and the market is much more saturated on the high-voltage side” notes Amin Bennouna.
The absence of these implementing decrees therefore threatens to slow the development of certain projects. Residential consumers are not spared either: some projects are facing delays or struggling to become profitable, particularly under the provisions of Law 82.21 regarding self-generation of electricity.
Law 82.21 allows large factories, small businesses and even households to install solar panels on their buildings or homes and use the electricity they generate. It also authorises self-generators to feed up to 20% of their annual production into the grid.
Accordingly, feed-in tariffs have been set by the National Electricity Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has established feed-in tariffs for self-generators connected to medium- and high-voltage grids whose installations exceed 11 kilowatts (kW). However, ANRE has yet to set any feed-in tariffs for households connected to the low-voltage grid. According to the regulator, this will have to wait until “the appropriate regulatory and technical framework is in place”.
For now, homeowners with solar panels can feed surplus electricity into the grid but receive no compensation for it. However, falling battery prices have made it more affordable to store this excess electricity rather than feed it into the grid without payment. The stored energy can then be used, particularly in the late afternoon and at night, when sunlight is less available.
The decline in battery costs in recent years is therefore opening the door to wider deployment of solar power in Morocco, provided it is paired with storage solutions. While this technology now appears more viable than concentrated solar power (CSP), its expansion remains dependent on changes to the regulatory framework, which must enable both individuals and businesses to fully harness the Kingdom’s solar potential.
Written in French by Salomé Krumenacher, edited in English by Amina Kadiri

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