Morocco Poised to Lead Africa’s Offshore Wind Energy Boom, Report Finds

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is including Morocco and South Africa for the first time among the markets to watch in the offshore wind sector. "Morocco has significant resources and a government committed to developing this technology in the region," says the GWEC Global Offshore Wind Report 2024. "The growth of offshore wind is now much more than a European, Chinese or American story, as emerging markets are taking significant steps to become mature markets," explains the GWEC.

According to GWEC experts, Morocco has natural wind energy resources. The southern Atlantic coast of the kingdom is full of significant potential to host offshore wind farms, with an average wind speed of over 10 meters per second (m/s), the GWEC report states. In Africa, Morocco is at the top of the ranking of potential leaders in the offshore wind market. It is followed by South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and Kenya. "Offshore wind finds its interest in the absence of obstacles that the wind encounters on land, thus there is better regularity of winds at sea, and production can be significantly more interesting than on land.

Offshore wind investment is almost double that of onshore, with profitability issues on certain projects. To address transportation problems, hydrogen can be produced at the foot of the wind turbines and evacuated later. The load factor that characterizes wind power production is on average 24% in Europe on land, while at sea, this same factor is 38%, i.e. 50% more, which explains the European enthusiasm for offshore wind," analyzes energy expert Said Guemra with Challenge.

"In the case of Morocco, the average onshore wind load factor varies between 34% and 43%. Moroccan onshore wind production is therefore higher than European offshore wind production, which does not mean that we do not need offshore wind," he points out, stressing the need to study the issue especially on the Atlantic coasts. According to his explanations, "these figures largely explain the great success of Morocco in hydrogen production and the future competitiveness of the production cost, which largely depends on wind power production."

Guemra believes that offshore wind can become interesting for Morocco, starting from a load factor of 60% or even 70%. "Studies must be carried out particularly in our southern regions, in order to understand if there is an opportunity for offshore wind projects," he adds. And to explain: "This option is planned for certain hydrogen production projects in Dakhla, which means that investors do not rule out the possibility of offshore wind. The first measurements will inform us about the possibilities offered, but the competition between offshore wind and onshore wind will be fierce for Morocco, which already has excellent onshore wind resources, and it will be difficult to justify double the investment."

A professor of physics and energy expert does not share this view: "Even if the citation of Morocco in this prestigious report is to be commended, the offshore wind technology is not yet on the agenda for reasons of cost and performance gain".