5 FROM FUEL-POOR TO RADIANT: MOROCCO’S ENERGY …
141
Another large internal barrier to decreasing dependence on gasoline and butane is public pressure to maintain subsidies. In 2011, the
overall subsidies provided by the Caisse de Compensation amounted to
5.5% of GDP: 45 million MAD, or $5.571 million. 138 In 2015, the
Moroccan government eliminated the small subsidies on gasoline as well
as the moderate subsidies on diesel, which plays an important role in
powering irrigation. 139 However, the state has struggled to remove the
much larger subsidies for butane gas, which is widely used for residential
cooking, water heating, and irrigation. The international price of butane
gas fell from $546 per tonne in January 2018 to $374 per tonne in July
2019, which lessened the pressure on the state’s budget. 140 Additionally,
the Moroccan government is working to phase out electricity subsidies,
except for citizens who consume the least per month.
Domestic Social Pressure
The critique of the provision of rents is that it suppresses democracy
by removing the general public accountability often linked to taxation.
It is impossible to measure whether international funding for renewable energy projects provides a rent that indeed suppresses democracy,
although it is clear that Morocco’s renewable energy policy seeks to
address social challenges that could threaten state stability. Morocco’s
renewable energy policy is interwoven with fraught social issues and therefore has much more to deliver than electrons. It must also address lack
of equity of opportunity and social isolation without providing services
from fossil fuel rents as oil-rich states in the region do. Who benefits and
who loses from energy and other development is a key social issue in
Morocco today. Recent nationwide boycotts against large, transnational
corporations have illustrated broad public resistance to economic models
that do not result in equitable economic growth, as have controversies
around the exploitation of collective land for solar energy development.
Thus, the Moroccan government faces immense pressure to achieve an
inclusive energy transition that does not perpetuate uneven development.
There have been drawbacks with solar siting processes in terms of
lack of sufficient and substantive engagement of local populations, use of
water for the first wet-cooled stage of Noor-Ouarzazate, loss of collective
grazing land, and benefits that went to the center of the commune rather
than the most affected populations. 141 Additionally, apple farmers living
near the Noor-Midelt site see the fruits of their labor go to middlemen
141
Another large internal barrier to decreasing dependence on gasoline and butane is public pressure to maintain subsidies. In 2011, the
overall subsidies provided by the Caisse de Compensation amounted to
5.5% of GDP: 45 million MAD, or $5.571 million. 138 In 2015, the
Moroccan government eliminated the small subsidies on gasoline as well
as the moderate subsidies on diesel, which plays an important role in
powering irrigation. 139 However, the state has struggled to remove the
much larger subsidies for butane gas, which is widely used for residential
cooking, water heating, and irrigation. The international price of butane
gas fell from $546 per tonne in January 2018 to $374 per tonne in July
2019, which lessened the pressure on the state’s budget. 140 Additionally,
the Moroccan government is working to phase out electricity subsidies,
except for citizens who consume the least per month.
Domestic Social Pressure
The critique of the provision of rents is that it suppresses democracy
by removing the general public accountability often linked to taxation.
It is impossible to measure whether international funding for renewable energy projects provides a rent that indeed suppresses democracy,
although it is clear that Morocco’s renewable energy policy seeks to
address social challenges that could threaten state stability. Morocco’s
renewable energy policy is interwoven with fraught social issues and therefore has much more to deliver than electrons. It must also address lack
of equity of opportunity and social isolation without providing services
from fossil fuel rents as oil-rich states in the region do. Who benefits and
who loses from energy and other development is a key social issue in
Morocco today. Recent nationwide boycotts against large, transnational
corporations have illustrated broad public resistance to economic models
that do not result in equitable economic growth, as have controversies
around the exploitation of collective land for solar energy development.
Thus, the Moroccan government faces immense pressure to achieve an
inclusive energy transition that does not perpetuate uneven development.
There have been drawbacks with solar siting processes in terms of
lack of sufficient and substantive engagement of local populations, use of
water for the first wet-cooled stage of Noor-Ouarzazate, loss of collective
grazing land, and benefits that went to the center of the commune rather
than the most affected populations. 141 Additionally, apple farmers living
near the Noor-Midelt site see the fruits of their labor go to middlemen