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Reports that Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) head Mustapha Bakkoury has fallen from grace and is under investigation for alleged management abuses have underlined the perception that the kingdom’s ambitious renewable energy (RE) programme is in trouble, confronted by delays, cost over-runs and high prices for electricity generated by the agency’s ground-breaking Noor Ouarzazate scheme.

While major renewable energy (RE) and other projects have stalled, some smaller-scale schemes report progress, including French developer Innovent’s 36MW Oualidia wind project, which is expected to be fully operational in H2 20. Innovent has built its plant under Law 13-09, which allows independent power producers (IPPs) to sell directly to customers connected to the high-voltage grid.

French renewable power developer InnoVent has used a variety of smart strategies to get to the commissioning stage of its Oualidia wind project, which is expected to be fully operational in six months. The partly crowd-funded project will feature the tallest turbine tower in Africa. It has also defied the stasis which has held back progress at other projects planned under Law 13-09 that allows IPPs to sell power directly to customers connected to the high-voltage grid.

France’s Innovent has announced the startup on 12 March of the first 3MW turbine of a 36MW wind farm at Oualidia. One of the first private wind farms to be developed under Morocco’s Law 13/09, which allows it to supply power directly to private sector industrial customers, the site will reach its full capacity of 36MW by the end of H1 2021.

The enthusiasm of majors towards the kingdom has waned as their global priorities have shifted, but several smaller companies are looking to sell gas to local power and industrial clients. But even with the government’s ambitious LNG import scheme apparently shelved, electricity capacity seems comfortable and industrial demand is uncertain, meaning commercialising gas reserves is far from easy for ambitious minnows, writes Jon Marks.

Jersey-based Predator Oil & Gas Holdings has launched preparations for drilling the MOU-1 well in the onshore Guercif licence. The MOU-1 well pad construction is being prepared for April 2021.

The Irish government has decided there are sufficient grounds to proceed with a complaint against San Leon Energy over its past activities in the onshore Tarfaya and Zag licence areas in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), an Irish NGO, filed a complaint in October 2018 claiming San Leon was not complying with a number of guidelines for multinational companies set out by the OECD, specifically the principle of meaningful engagement with stakeholders – in this case the Sahrawi people – and the principle of respect for internationally recognised human rights.

Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) is making progress with its 850MW Integrated Wind Project. The utility announced on 6 January that the 210MW Midelt wind farm has begun commercial operations. The plant is located on a 2,300ha site 8km north-east of Midelt. It is owned by ONEE, Italy’s Enel Green Power and Morocco’s Nareva Holding.

The long-awaited sector regulator Autorité Nationale de Régulation de l’Electricité (ANRE) has finally held its first board meeting in Rabat, approving its working procedures and a strategic road map for 2021-25. Details have yet to be published.

Chariot Oil & Gas says it has received non-binding expression of interest (EOI) letters from the Africa Finance Corporation and a multinational investment bank to finance the Anchois gas development project on the Lixus licence. AFC has offered development debt finance, while the bank has offered reserves-based lending.

Sweden’s Azelio on 20 October announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Morocco-based Jet Energy to develop energy storage in Morocco and elsewhere in Francophone Africa. Jet Energy will use Azelio’s energy storage systems at its solar PV plants, with a total capacity of around 45MW to be developed in phases by 2025. The first project targets 50kW in 2021, followed by 5MW in 2022, 10MW in 2023, 15MW in 2024 and 15MW in 2025.

The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) invites bids from consultants by 13 November to provide technical advisory services for the development of a hybrid solar PV/wind power plant. The project will power Morocco’s first green hydrogen factory with an electrolyser capacity of approximately 100MW.

The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) is tendering for a technical adviser to help deliver the first of a series of power projects which it intends to build in Zambia in partnership with the national utility Zesco.

The Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) is tendering for an international technical adviser to conduct a study into the kingdom’s first green hydrogen production project. This is one of a number of studies and analyses that the agency will use to evaluate the possible use of renewable energy in sectors beyond power generation, including storage.

Sound Energy signed heads of terms on 26 June with a Moroccan conglomerate with LPG, butane and propane distribution and marketing operations. Sound is in exclusive talks with the company for the purchase of LNG from its planned fast-track phase 1 development on the Tendrara production concession, and for partial financing of the development.