5 FROM FUEL-POOR TO RADIANT: MOROCCO’S ENERGY …
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tandem, including achieving domestic sustainable development and industrial policy goals, securing international financing and managing domestic
energy prices, and grappling with domestic resource scarcity and complex
dynamics among the African Union, European Union, and Algeria. The
state must balance the trade-offs among these various goals within its
energy policy.
Methods
To understand Morocco’s alternative energy policy, I conducted fieldwork
and interviews over seven trips to Morocco, as well as document and news
analysis. After a scoping trip in June 2012, I conducted 20 interviews and
attended energy-related events while living in Salé, Morocco from August
to December 2013. The interview sample included officials from Morocco’s energy and renewable energy agencies, Morocco’s utility company,
development bank and financial institutions, as well as researchers and
heads of research centers.
In February 2014, I spent one month in Ouarzazate, the first site of
Morocco’s solar plan, participating in a research project on the social
impacts of solar siting. Overall, I made seven trips to Ouarzazate to interview stakeholders. I also co-led four one-month study-abroad trips on
sustainable development to Morocco and Spain in 2013–2015 and one
trip to Morocco in 2016 in which we met with government officials and
stakeholders. 10 In June 2018, a colleague and I conducted 12 interviews
on the food-energy-water nexus in Rabat, the Midelt area, and Marrakesh.
Near Midelt, we visited the site slated for 800 MW of solar development,
as well as nearby stakeholders at farms and energy infrastructure. Finally,
I updated my data from 2018 to 2019 through news analysis.
Status of Alternative Energy in Morocco
Morocco’s most obvious energy challenge relates to the uneven
geographical distribution of natural resources across the globe. The country’s only natural resource wealth that provides rents is phosphates—used
in fertilizers, animal feed, and detergents. 11 Morocco’s lack of resource
wealth leads to high external energy dependency and macroeconomic
challenges. Morocco’s trade deficit averaged −1.780 billion USD from
June 2018 through May 2019. 12 Morocco’s largest import is petroleum
oils ($3.5 billion), and its fifth-largest import is liquefied butane ($880
123
tandem, including achieving domestic sustainable development and industrial policy goals, securing international financing and managing domestic
energy prices, and grappling with domestic resource scarcity and complex
dynamics among the African Union, European Union, and Algeria. The
state must balance the trade-offs among these various goals within its
energy policy.
Methods
To understand Morocco’s alternative energy policy, I conducted fieldwork
and interviews over seven trips to Morocco, as well as document and news
analysis. After a scoping trip in June 2012, I conducted 20 interviews and
attended energy-related events while living in Salé, Morocco from August
to December 2013. The interview sample included officials from Morocco’s energy and renewable energy agencies, Morocco’s utility company,
development bank and financial institutions, as well as researchers and
heads of research centers.
In February 2014, I spent one month in Ouarzazate, the first site of
Morocco’s solar plan, participating in a research project on the social
impacts of solar siting. Overall, I made seven trips to Ouarzazate to interview stakeholders. I also co-led four one-month study-abroad trips on
sustainable development to Morocco and Spain in 2013–2015 and one
trip to Morocco in 2016 in which we met with government officials and
stakeholders. 10 In June 2018, a colleague and I conducted 12 interviews
on the food-energy-water nexus in Rabat, the Midelt area, and Marrakesh.
Near Midelt, we visited the site slated for 800 MW of solar development,
as well as nearby stakeholders at farms and energy infrastructure. Finally,
I updated my data from 2018 to 2019 through news analysis.
Status of Alternative Energy in Morocco
Morocco’s most obvious energy challenge relates to the uneven
geographical distribution of natural resources across the globe. The country’s only natural resource wealth that provides rents is phosphates—used
in fertilizers, animal feed, and detergents. 11 Morocco’s lack of resource
wealth leads to high external energy dependency and macroeconomic
challenges. Morocco’s trade deficit averaged −1.780 billion USD from
June 2018 through May 2019. 12 Morocco’s largest import is petroleum
oils ($3.5 billion), and its fifth-largest import is liquefied butane ($880