The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Environment (MEME) of the Kingdom of Morocco have announced an agreement to strengthen joint collaboration to advance knowledge in renewable energy and to accelerate the energy transition. Specifically, IRENA and Morocco will work closely to advance the national green hydrogen economy as the country aims to become a major green hydrogen producer and exporter.
Morocco is recognized as a regional energy transition pioneer. The country has revised upwards its renewable energy ambition with a decision to increase the share of total installed capacity to more than 52 percent by 2030 – exceeding the country’s objective announced at COP21 in Paris.
The Kingdom of Morocco has shown great leadership in advancing the deployment of renewable energy to meet growing energy demand while creating new industrial opportunities across the country. It is only natural that this leadership be extended to the pursuit of green hydrogen, which may play a critical role in global decarbonization ambitions. Under this agreement, IRENA will work closely with Morocco to advance domestic ambition and create opportunities to share knowledge globally, said Francesco La Camera, Director-General of IRENA.
Under the agreement, IRENA and MEME Morocco will work together to develop technology and market outlook studies, craft public-private models of cooperation in the hydrogen space, explore the development of new hydrogen value chains, and lay the groundwork for the trading of green hydrogen at a national and regional level.
More broadly, IRENA and Morocco will work together to strengthen the policies and regulatory frameworks for renewable energy deployment and energy efficiency applications in the Kingdom.
Furthermore, the two parties will promote renewable energy investments, including climate finance, through the development of solid project pipelines with enhanced bankability and the facilitation of access to finance, including in the context of the Coalition for Sustainable Energy Access initiative and the Climate Investment Platform (CIP).
Morocco has played an important role in global renewable energy cooperation through IRENA since the Agency’s formation, and we will continue to promote and encourage the uptake of renewables in the context of climate change and sustainable development at a regional and an international level. The signing of this agreement is an illustration of the excellent cooperation between Morocco and IRENA and we will continue to strengthen our joint efforts aimed at accelerating the transition, said Aziz Rabbah, Morocco’s Minister of Energy.
Together with the European Commission, Morocco co-facilitated IRENA’s Collaborative Framework on Green Hydrogen earlier this year to address challenges in developing the infrastructure, technology, and certification needed to shape a global green economy and lay the ground for green hydrogen trading.
According to IRENA data, at the end of 2020, the Kingdom of Morocco had a total installed renewable energy capacity of almost 3.5 GW.