6th African Meeting on Energy Efficiency

Mr Moulay Hafid ELALAMY,
Minister of Industry, Commerce and the Green and Digital Economy,

Mrs. HANZAZ,
Representative of UNIDO,

Mrs EL KHALIFA,
Director General of the Solar Cluster,

Mr MOULINE,
Director General of AMEE,

Mr. IKKEN,
Director General of IRESEN,

Mr ZEROUALI,
Director of Development and International Cooperation of MASEN,

Mr EL HARTI,
President of FENELEC,

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,

It was in 1972, during the United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm, that the first text on energy efficiency was drafted… Today, almost fifty years later, in a context of global warming, the need to secure energy supplies and the increase in world energy consumption, technological change seems to have a crucial role to play, both from an environmental and economic point of view.

Decarbonising businesses without reducing their performance requires the use of new technologies. This can be achieved by increasing energy efficiency and improving power generation from renewable sources.

The answers to the climate and demographic challenges of the African continent – arguably the most important of the 21st century – have a common denominator: the rapid and large-scale deployment of low-carbon and affordable electricity.

In his speech on the 9th anniversary of his accession to the throne, His Majesty King MOHAMED VI stated: “Morocco has no choice but to strengthen its local energy production capacity and to open the way to promising investments in energy supply. It must also resolutely pursue efforts to make alternative and renewable energies the keystone of the national energy policy.

The energy strategy and its ambitious efficiency programme defined by the Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment in Morocco targets three sectors: tertiary and residential – industrial and transport… This strategy aims to achieve four objectives by 2030:

• Security of supply and availability of energy,
• Generalized access to energy at reasonable prices,
• Demand management,
• Preservation of the environment.

Four objectives, therefore, for four orientations:

• A diversified and optimised mix based on reliable and competitive technological choices,
• The mobilisation of national resources through the increase in renewable energies,
• Energy efficiency as a national priority,
• And finally regional integration.

Solarexport, manufacturer and integrator of solar solutions in Morocco, located in Marrakech – host city of the promising COP 22 – is fully involved in this proactive policy and in this ambitious programme set up as a national priority.

Mr. Minister, we are in perfect adequacy with your manifest will to substitute imports by local industrial development… Through these projects which constitute an important lever of economic and human development in a disaster-stricken region – Solarexport Morocco by its strategic location and by the diversification of its solar solutions with its dedicated brand “MApower” aims to develop – with other local industrial partners such as EMOB ”Electric Mobility” and LAMALIF – a dynamic and perennial ecosystem in the sector of energy and solar efficiency. Solarexport also seeks – in the image of Morocco’s influence on this continent, a leader in the field of solar energy – to give a true African dimension to our Moroccan industrial project, our “Made in Morocco” project.

At the initiative of CAFELEC / FENELEC and its President Mr EL HARTI, we are currently participating in the 2nd edition of the JN-ECO ENERGIE in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

As we all know, innovations in the field of energy take two main forms: innovations aimed at developing new sources of energy and those aimed at reinforcing energy efficiency… Like our neighbour, the IRESEN ENERGY PARK research and training centre in BEN GUERIR, Solarexport Morocco is banking on innovation…

And what better example than the welcome given by Mr Bentaleb, President of the Moroccan Chamber of Agriculture, to our solution of water desalination by photovoltaic energy and the management of brine by the system of phyto-desalination… or our project of industrialization of the Moroccan solar pumping supported by the AMEE, which illustrate the validity of our conviction to develop an expertise “Made in Morocco”. 

We are convinced that expertise also requires the training of future generations, which is why we have entered into a partnership with the Agadir Polytechnic School to welcome young future engineers. For as Antoine de Saint Exupéry reminds us so well: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”.

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear participants,

Vision, perseverance and humility are the three qualities that characterise our frame of reference. Allow me to thank you for your attention to the Solarexport Morocco project and be assured that we will avoid the pitfalls and overcome the barriers inherent in any new entrant.

So, dear friends, let us release all our energy to make this 6th edition of the African meetings effective!

Thank you.