MOROCCO IS ‘VERY OPEN’ TO MORE GREEN BONDS – MASEN CHIEF
02 February 2018
The north African state of Morocco is pushing for private finance to make its green energy sector ‘very competitive’, according to the nation’s renewable energy head.
In a video interview with Impact4All, Obaid Amrane, director, Masen, confirmed that Morocco has targeted ’52 per cent renewables’ in the mix by 2030.
Renewables currently account for 32 per cent of the country’s energy mix. The director said he is continuing to push all renewable energy sources, including wind power.
“Morocco will soon be one of the few countries where our renewable energy capacity will outpace fossil fuels in the near future,” he said.
“We import around 90 per cent of our fossil fuel energy and our energy needs are growing by 5-6 per cent annually,” the director added.
Masen aims to mobilise about $30 billion in financing its renewables schemes with plans underway to optimise carbon finance and green finance.
The agency, which is privately held with public funding, issued Morocco’s first green bond in 2016 for $117 million to finance utility-scale solar power facilities including three 160MW PV projects.
Amrane said: “We are very proud of our green bond and would consider more. We mobilised the infrastructure and just let them build the power plants – our market was open and keen to receive more infrastructure, so we have issued green bonds. They have partially financed 170 MW of PV facility across our deserts,” he said.
Author :
Allicia Buller
