Office National de l’Electricite (ONE), Morocco’s power utility, will begin power projects in 1999 totalling US$900M. The proposed projects include a thermal project near Tangiers, a wind farm and a hydroelectric complex to be built at Dchar el Oued in the northeast of the country.
The hydro complex, intended to produce around 200M kWh annually, is expected to cost around US$150M and is planned to go onstream in 2002. ONE is also planning to build a 300MW pumped storage project near Afourar. This project, expected to begin in the first half of the year, will cost around US$200M.
Morocco’s net power demand in 1998 stood at 12,453GWh, showing an increase of 5.8% compared with 1997. Hydro represented some 14.1% of the total.