While more than 120,000 solar water heaters are imported annually from Turkey and China to Morocco, a local manufacturing plant for these kits will be operational before June 2023. The facility under construction in the Aïn Johra industrial park in the town of Tiflet is in line with the Moroccan authorities' vision of promoting energy efficiency.
Morocco is pursuing its ecological transition by focusing on renewable energy. It is in this context that the authorities of this North African country recently participated in the launch of construction work on a solar water heating production plant in Tiflet in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region. The installation, called “MySol CES”, is being implemented by the Moroccan company Green Innov Industry Investment (Gi3), which is also financing the first phase of the work to the tune of 60 million Moroccan dirhams, or 5.4 million euros.
“This project will enable the emergence of new competitive green industrial sectors with high added value in order to contribute to the Kingdom’s industrial and energy sovereignty,” says Ryad Mezzour. According to the Moroccan Minister of Industry and Trade, who presided over the ceremony, the new factory, which will produce 40,000 units of solar water heaters per year, will create 880 jobs by the second half of 2023.
In the meantime, the executive chairman of Gi3 has concluded a “scientific and technological partnership” with the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah University in Fez, 180 kilometres from the capital Rabat. The aim is to “support the development of processes, ensure continuous innovation of solar water heaters and guarantee better quality and competitiveness in the long term. The idea is to be able to integrate equipment that will be very affordable, particularly for low-cost housing, but also for collective residences,” explains Badr Ikken, who is also the former Director General of the Moroccan Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN).
The development of clean energy
The solar water heaters, which will also be exported to Europe and the Middle East, will enable Moroccan households and public institutions to optimise their energy consumption and thus reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Kingdom. At the same time, Gi3 plans to build “Mysol PV”, a photovoltaic station with a capacity of 1,000 MWh per year.
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“Today, more than 80% of the solar photovoltaic value chain is carried by China at a time when the economic situation and the energy crisis are forcing the use of renewable energy. In this field, the most affordable technology remains photovoltaic. As a result, the construction of this plant will create around 30,000 indirect jobs while contributing to Morocco’s energy and regional sovereignty in North Africa,” the company said.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
