A story from Bloomberg published on 15 October reveals Morocco’s massive plans for building energy projects in occupied Western Sahara. 

Morocco’s programmes are developed for various types of controversial initiatives that contribute in cementing the occupation, among other things through attracting thousands of Moroccan settlers with jobs in the agricultural sector, or to plunder the non-renewable minerals. 

This week's Bloomberg revelation now quantifies the scope of Morocco's plans. According to Bloomberg, there is an intention to double the capacity in the territory by 2030. This somewhat corresponds to WSRW’s earlier calculations.

Bloomberg also gives another figure: the Moroccan government “has set a 2027 deadline to build 1.4 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity in the region, said an energy ministry official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic.” 

It wrote that the projects “are likely to cost about 21 billion dirhams ($2.1 billion) and will be led by local and foreign private investors, according to the official.” 

Western Sahara Resource Watch last year revealed that 81% of all the lands that the Moroccan government has allocated to green hydrogen projects alone, are located in the occupied territory.

In April the French government - a close and consistent ally of Morocco in the illegal occupation - announced that it would help Morocco in funding a transmission cable from Western Sahara to Morocco, which will integrate the grids. 

Recent rulings from the EU Court of Justice have clearly ruled that the EU has no right to enter into agreements with Morocco covering the territory of Western Sahara. Morocco has illegally occupied a large part of the territory since the 1970s. 

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