Morocco’s Energy Security According to Younes Maamar
Produce more domestically, diversify supply routes and reduce the amount of energy required to generate the same level of economic output: the framework articulated by Younes Maamar presents energy security less as a quest for autarky than as a deliberate policy of resilience.
A growing renewable power base within an economy that remains heavily dependent on external energy
Morocco’s energy paradox can be expressed in a handful of figures. The Kingdom possesses considerable solar and wind resources, has invested for years in renewable generation capacity and has raised renewables to a substantial share of its electricity fleet. Yet overall energy dependence remains high because transport, industry and part of the power system continue to rely on imported fuels.
Provisional figures from the Ministry of Energy Transition place Morocco’s energy dependence rate at 87.5% in 2024. The national energy bill reached approximately MAD 114 billion, while total energy consumption stood at around 24.09 million tonnes of oil equivalent.
These figures explain the strategic significance of the argument advanced by Younes Maamar, former Director-General of Morocco’s National Electricity Office. The central question is not merely how much energy Morocco produces. It is how many alternative sources the country can access, how much supply can be secured domestically, which infrastructures can absorb an external disruption and how far demand itself can be moderated.
Energy dependence has declined, without ceasing to define Morocco’s strategic exposure
The Ministry notes that Morocco’s energy dependence stood at 97.5% in 2009. The provisional figure published for 2024, 87.5%, therefore represents a ten-percentage-point decline over fifteen years.
That improvement is material, but it does not alter the underlying structure of the problem: a large share of Morocco’s primary energy consumption still depends on external markets.
Indicator: overall energy dependence. These figures should not be confused with the share of renewable energy in installed electricity capacity.
Three levers rather than a single energy solution
In his 2022 intervention on energy security, Younes Maamar structured his analysis around three complementary directions. The first was to strengthen domestic energy resources. The second was to diversify foreign supply. The third was to act on energy demand itself.
Produce more domestically
Renewables, potentially commercial gas resources and the development of domestic energy assets can reduce the volume that has to be purchased from abroad.
Become genuinely multi-source
A country that continues to import energy is less vulnerable when it can draw on multiple suppliers, routes, markets and technologies.
Manage demand
Energy that no longer needs to be consumed because buildings, equipment and industrial systems are more efficient also contributes to supply security.
Security does not necessarily mean independence
This distinction is fundamental. Energy independence, taken in its strictest sense, would imply that a state can satisfy most of its needs from domestic resources alone.
Energy security answers a different requirement: ensuring continuity of supply under economically and technically acceptable conditions, including when a supplier, a trade route or a specific technology becomes temporarily unavailable.
A country can therefore continue to import a significant share of its energy while improving its security, provided that exposure is distributed, stocks are maintained, networks are resilient, domestic generation is expanded and credible alternatives exist.
Renewables now account for 45.3% of installed power capacity
The transformation of Morocco’s electricity fleet is the most visible component of this strategy. By the end of 2024, the country had 12,016 MW of installed generating capacity. Renewable energy sources represented 45.3% of that total.
The figure must nevertheless be interpreted with care. A share of installed capacity does not automatically translate into an identical share of annual electricity generation. Capacity factors differ substantially between solar, wind, hydropower, coal, gas and other forms of generation.
Morocco also retains its policy objective of exceeding 52% renewable energy in installed electricity capacity by 2030. Renewables therefore serve three overlapping purposes: decarbonisation, industrial development and the reduction of exposure to imported fuels.
Larache: an ambitious 2022 projection that must now be read against the actual development timetable
The most striking passage in Maamar’s 2022 intervention concerned Morocco’s domestic gas potential. He referred to the Larache project in terms of approximately 9 to 10 billion cubic metres of potential gas resources and compared that figure with a national gas consumption level he placed at roughly 0.7 billion cubic metres per year.
That comparison underpinned the argument that Morocco could potentially move toward a form of domestic gas sufficiency. Maamar also referred at the time to the possibility of first commercial gas during the first quarter of 2025.
The subsequent evolution of the project makes that distinction essential. By 2026, Chariot was still working on the resizing of the Anchois development concept in order to optimise a scheme based on the resources actually encountered through drilling. The company was still discussing partnership, financing and progression toward a final investment decision.
Anchois therefore offers a useful illustration of the difference between geological resource, recoverable estimate, final investment decision, infrastructure construction and commercial production. Energy security becomes tangible only at the final stages of that sequence.
Nearly 30,000 kilometres of electricity transmission infrastructure
Generation alone does not settle the question of energy security. A power plant without sufficient transmission capacity, a renewable resource located far from major demand centres or a saturated interconnector offers only limited strategic value.
By the end of 2024, Morocco’s national electricity transmission network extended to approximately 29,806 kilometres. Cumulative investment in its expansion and reinforcement since the launch of the 2009 energy strategy stood at around MAD 15.87 billion.
This infrastructure becomes increasingly important as renewable generation is dispersed across the national territory and power flows must move efficiently between production areas, major consumption centres and international interconnections.
Interconnection itself becomes a strategic asset
Younes Maamar extended this reasoning in August 2026 when discussing energy relations between Morocco and Spain. His argument emphasised the age, resilience and mutual utility of the energy infrastructures linking the two countries.
This approach challenges the idea that importing electricity or gas necessarily constitutes a structural weakness. Where infrastructure is bidirectional, markets are interconnected and multiple alternatives exist, cross-border exchange can strengthen rather than undermine national resilience.
What energy security means in measurable terms
| Lever | Relevant indicator | Current position or objective | What should be monitored |
|---|---|---|---|
| External dependence | Energy dependence rate | 87.5% in 2024 | Import volumes and the national energy bill |
| Renewables | Share of installed capacity | 45.3% in 2024 | Actual generation, storage and grid connections |
| Power system | Installed generation capacity | 12,016 MW | New capacity effectively commissioned |
| Electricity generation | Domestic output | 43,698 GWh in 2024 | Generation mix by technology |
| Transmission | Network length | 29,806 km | Ability to absorb additional renewable power |
| Domestic gas | Commercial production | Anchois development still to be fully materialised | FID, financing, infrastructure and first gas |
| Diversification | Number of accessible sources and routes | Multi-source strategy advocated by Maamar | Actual concentration among suppliers |
What Maamar’s doctrine ultimately implies
Reduced to its essential principle, the framework advanced by Younes Maamar does not amount either to a promise of rapid energy autarky or to reliance on a single technological solution.
It consists instead of building several layers of protection: domestic resources, renewables, potentially locally produced gas, diversified international supply, interconnections, resilient networks and demand management.
Energy security thus appears as a property of the system as a whole. The greater the number of substitutable options available, the less likely a single disruption is to generate a broader supply crisis.
This framework also explains why the energy dependence rate, taken alone, cannot fully describe a country’s vulnerability. The geographic origin of imports, available stocks, power-system flexibility, network capacity and the scale of achievable energy savings are equally decisive.
Five questions will reveal the real evolution of Morocco’s energy security
01 — Is Morocco’s energy dependence continuing to fall?
The decline from 97.5% in 2009 to 87.5% in 2024 provides a measurable trajectory. Its continuation will be more informative than the announcement of any single new energy project.
02 — Are renewables generating as quickly as capacity is being installed?
Installed MW should be compared with actual annual output in GWh, available storage and grid constraints.
03 — Are domestic gas projects moving from resource estimates to production?
An announced resource only acquires strategic significance after financing, construction, connection and commercialisation.
04 — Does the system genuinely possess alternatives?
Diversification should be assessed through suppliers, routes, ports, pipelines, electricity interconnections and dispatchable generation options.
05 — Is the economy using less energy to produce more value?
Energy efficiency is the third pillar of Maamar’s framework. It therefore deserves the same degree of scrutiny as new generating capacity.
Energy sovereignty is ultimately measured by the ability to absorb the next shock
Morocco has expanded its renewable capacity, reinforced its electricity grid and reduced its energy dependence since 2009. It nevertheless remains exposed to hydrocarbon prices, international markets and the availability of strategic infrastructure.
Younes Maamar’s analytical framework sits precisely within this tension: reduce exposure without waiting for improbable absolute independence, diversify before the crisis occurs and treat energy demand as a component of sovereignty in the same way as production.
Future data will determine how far this strategy has materialised: energy dependence, energy import costs, renewable electricity generation, stocks, interconnection capacity, domestic gas production and the energy intensity of the economy. From that perspective, energy security is less a proclamation than a durable capacity to continue supplying the country when the external environment becomes more adverse.