Leila Benali, Minister of Energy of Morocco: “For the first time in history, we have a two-way trade in electricity and gas with Spain” | Economy | EUROtoday

There is nice concord between Madrid and Rabat. Not solely due to the assist of the Government of Pedro Sánchez for the plan with which Morocco seeks to say its sovereignty over Western Sahara. In phrases of power, the fuel and electrical energy commerce has created an area for collaboration. The Moroccan Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, confirms this: “We deal with friends and neighbors who are very aware of the regional responsibility we share.”

In the center of the week of the XIII High Level Meeting between the 2 nations, Benali rushes right into a room on the headquarters of the CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations) in Madrid. After the interview, she plans to satisfy together with her Spanish counterpart, the minister of the sector, Sara Aagesen: “We will analyze how to increase our connectivity. We have been meeting and dialoguing very regularly, formally and informally. It is the type of relationship we have maintained since 2021.”

That yr, the breaking of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Algeria induced the closure of the Maghreb-Europe fuel pipeline, the tube that transported fuel from the Algerian fields within the Sahara to Spain, crossing Morocco and the Strait of Gibraltar. After a number of months with the infrastructure stopped, the fuel started to circulation in the other way than standard: north-south, as an alternative of south-north. “I want to sincerely thank the Government of Spain and highlight the excellent relationship we have maintained since 2021, when Algeria cut off the gas supply to Europe, just a few months before the war between Russia and Ukraine, and we had to act together.” For the minister, the connection between each nations “transcends market fluctuations or any short-term issue.”

According to Benali, Morocco’s nice strategic guess to flee the “middle income trap”, which limits its financial development to three% of GDP, is low-cost, low-carbon power, which, he claims, will permit it to aspire to charges of 6%. In 2023, 42% of the power generated by the nation was of renewable origin. “Today we are at 45% and we will reach 52% in 2027. The first 40% is the most painful, Spain has gone through the same exercise,” he feedback. To attain these figures, he emphasizes, since 2021 his authorities has tripled funding within the power sector annually.

“We are in an investment boom in the sector and there is a lot of room for Spanish companies.” The minister estimates that there are 1,000 Spanish corporations with a presence in her nation and 20,000 that export their companies throughout the Strait. “The reverse also happens, many Moroccan companies participate as partners in projects in Spain,” he observes.

Benali highlights the 2 underwater energy strains that join each nations, with a mixed capability of 1,400 MW. He insists that they work in “both directions” and that there’s a “project for a third that reinforces connectivity.” In the nice blackout on April 28 that left the whole Iberian Peninsula with out electrical energy for nearly a day, Morocco, which normally is determined by Spain to finish its electrical energy wants, mobilized as much as 38% of its manufacturing capability to ship power to reactivate the interrupted provide. The minister says she is “happy” to have helped her northern neighbor. “For the first time in history, we have two-way trade in electricity and gas, and I hope in the future also in metals and minerals,” he emphasizes.

The rising international demand for strategic metals – akin to lithium and cobalt, important for telephones, electrical autos and inexperienced electrical energy – can solely be met if mining is unlocked in Africa and the commerce corridors that join that continent with Europe, the minister maintains. The connection between Morocco and Spain, the one one which unites the 2 shores of the Mediterranean, could be a key entry level, he asserts.

Last week, collectively together with her African counterparts, the minister launched the Marrakesh Declaration, an ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) framework that establishes standards for mining tasks in Africa to be accountable, sustainable and bankable. According to Benali, this initiative facilitates funding within the sector.

Regarding the United States’ insistence on using fossil fuels, the minister affirms that her nation’s dedication to inexperienced power dates again to 1991. Since then, it has remained steady. “There are large geopolitical groups that are investing and allocating billions of dollars in subsidies for research and development in energy storage, batteries and networks. Morocco has become a territory that integrates all these technologies.”