Uncoveringthe hidden truths
behind the world's largest concentrated solar power plant.
DISCOVER
Index
Taking the land
Investors
Context
Water usage
Bibliography
Contextualize your topic
Backers
Context
A brief history of the project
Morocco's flagship project
- The Ouarzazate solar power plant project began in the early 2010s, in the wake of the Desertec project.
- It began operating in 2016.
- Morocco is mostly reliant on fossil fuels for energy.
- The country has set the ambitious goal of increasing its share of renewable energy to more than 50 percent by 2030.
Taking the land
Who was dispossessed?
The 3 000 hectare facility was installed on land inhabited by the Amazigh agropastoralists, without their consent. It was legal, though. The Moroccan state deployed existing colonial laws to expropriate communal land.
“The project people talk about this as a desert that is not used, but to the people here it is not desert, it is a pasture. It is their territory, and their future is in the land. When you take my land, you take my oxygen.” - a local person
Investors
Who makes profits?
The construction was the object of multiple contracts, such as the one with Saudi Arabia's ACWA - an energy company that also uses fossil fuels. Renewable installations like the Ouarzazate solar power plan present various opportunities for profit through rents.
These new contracts represent an effort by the companies to diversify out of fossil fuels (while still honoring their previous fossil fuel contracts).They build on the strong geopolitical ties which the Moroccan government forged in large part through oil.
Backers
Who ensures the project?
A public-private partnership
Socialise the risks, privatise the profits
The Maroccan government is the guarantor of a $9 billion debt relating to loans from the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and others. Since its launch in 2016, the project has had an annual deficit of around 80 million euros - covered by the public purse.
Water usage
How does the plant impact the local ecosystem?
Water-intensive technology
High consumption
Although official estimates of water consumption at Ouarzazate are between 2.5 and 3 million cubic metres a year, actual consumption appears to be substantially higher, even by official admission.
The Ouarzazate plant uses concentrated solar power (CSP), which necessitates extensive use of water in order to cool down the system and clean the solar panels. In a semi-arid region like Ouarzazate, it makes a serious dent in an already precarious situation.
Bibliography
Learn more
Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K. (2023) Just in Time – The Urgent Need for a Just Transitionin the Arab Region. In Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K., Dismantling Green Colonialism. (pp. 1-25). Pluto Press.
01
02
Rignall K. (2023) What Can an Old Mine Tell Us about a Just Energy Transition? Lessons from Social Mobilization across Mining and Renewable Energy in Morocco. In Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K., Dismantling Green Colonialism. (pp. 88-107). Pluto Press.
03
Henderson C. (2023) Unjust transitions: The Gulf States’ Role in the “Sustainability Shift” in the Middle East and North Africa. In Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K., Dismantling Green Colonialism. (pp. 88-107). Pluto Press.
04
Schuetze, B. (2024). Follow the Grid, Follow the Violence: The Project for a Transregional Mediterranean Electricity Ring. Middle East Critique, 33(4), 529–547.
Uncovering the hidden truths
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Transcript
Uncoveringthe hidden truths
behind the world's largest concentrated solar power plant.
DISCOVER
Index
Taking the land
Investors
Context
Water usage
Bibliography
Contextualize your topic
Backers
Context
A brief history of the project
Morocco's flagship project
Taking the land
Who was dispossessed?
The 3 000 hectare facility was installed on land inhabited by the Amazigh agropastoralists, without their consent. It was legal, though. The Moroccan state deployed existing colonial laws to expropriate communal land.
“The project people talk about this as a desert that is not used, but to the people here it is not desert, it is a pasture. It is their territory, and their future is in the land. When you take my land, you take my oxygen.” - a local person
Investors
Who makes profits?
The construction was the object of multiple contracts, such as the one with Saudi Arabia's ACWA - an energy company that also uses fossil fuels. Renewable installations like the Ouarzazate solar power plan present various opportunities for profit through rents.
These new contracts represent an effort by the companies to diversify out of fossil fuels (while still honoring their previous fossil fuel contracts).They build on the strong geopolitical ties which the Moroccan government forged in large part through oil.
Backers
Who ensures the project?
A public-private partnership
Socialise the risks, privatise the profits
The Maroccan government is the guarantor of a $9 billion debt relating to loans from the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and others. Since its launch in 2016, the project has had an annual deficit of around 80 million euros - covered by the public purse.
Water usage
How does the plant impact the local ecosystem?
Water-intensive technology
High consumption
Although official estimates of water consumption at Ouarzazate are between 2.5 and 3 million cubic metres a year, actual consumption appears to be substantially higher, even by official admission.
The Ouarzazate plant uses concentrated solar power (CSP), which necessitates extensive use of water in order to cool down the system and clean the solar panels. In a semi-arid region like Ouarzazate, it makes a serious dent in an already precarious situation.
Bibliography
Learn more
Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K. (2023) Just in Time – The Urgent Need for a Just Transitionin the Arab Region. In Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K., Dismantling Green Colonialism. (pp. 1-25). Pluto Press.
01
02
Rignall K. (2023) What Can an Old Mine Tell Us about a Just Energy Transition? Lessons from Social Mobilization across Mining and Renewable Energy in Morocco. In Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K., Dismantling Green Colonialism. (pp. 88-107). Pluto Press.
03
Henderson C. (2023) Unjust transitions: The Gulf States’ Role in the “Sustainability Shift” in the Middle East and North Africa. In Hamouchene H. and Sandwell K., Dismantling Green Colonialism. (pp. 88-107). Pluto Press.
04
Schuetze, B. (2024). Follow the Grid, Follow the Violence: The Project for a Transregional Mediterranean Electricity Ring. Middle East Critique, 33(4), 529–547.