Morocco Developing First Offshore Wind Project?

July 23, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) has been exploring the construction of a pilot offshore wind farm off the coast of Essaouira which, if built, would be Morocco’s first offshore wind farm.

This is according to information shared in competitive tender notices for technical assistance for an offshore wind feasibility study, issued by the European Investment Bank (EIB), which is supporting Masen in investigating the feasibility of building offshore wind farms off Morocco’s Atlantic coast.

According to the tender notice, which seems to have been cancelled now, Masen has been commissioned to set up an integrated programme for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources that would see a minimum capacity of 6 GW installed in Morocco by 2030.

As part of this framework, Masen has committed to looking into the development of an offshore wind industry and building upon the competencies gained industry-wide in other locations.

Back in September 2022, EIB and Masen signed a cooperation agreement for a EUR 2 million grant to finance a feasibility study that would be carried out to gauge building an initial small-scale offshore wind pilot project in Morocco.

According to EIB, the initial study would encompass a technical and economic evaluation of a potential offshore wind project, produce and analyse preparatory studies necessary for the project in technical, economic, environmental and social terms, and complete a detailed assessment of the risks and challenges involved. EIB also said in September 2022 that the evaluation would benefit from EIB Group’s expertise in the development of a new generation of floating wind turbine platforms.

Estimates of the technical offshore wind potential in Morocco by the World Bank Group show the country holds 200 GW of potential offshore wind capacity – and “only” 22 GW of it is most suitable for fixed-bottom wind turbines while the remaining 178 GW are shown to be best tapped into through floating wind technology.