Moroccan national authorities wishes to build electricity infrastructure in Dakhla, occupied Western Sahara.
In an ad in today's issue of Financial Times, the Moroccan state electricity company Office National de l'Electricité invites for a tendering round for building a 500 MW solar installation in Dakhla.
ONE claims Dakhla to lie within "the Kingdom of Morocco". No state, however, recognises this area as Moroccan. The area is considered as occupied by the UN.
The tender is thus opened for infrastructure work on occupied land. The operation date is set to December 2010.
Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975, in violation of international law. The International Court of Justice had at the time decided the Moroccan claims to the territory was unfounded.
How can it be wrong to develop renewable energy, in a world that is in desperate need for a green transition? In Western Sahara, the problems are numerous.
At the company’s Annual General Meeting on 26 February 2024, Siemens Energy’s board could not rule out any further projects in occupied Western Sahara.
The German government has clarified that its financial support for Siemens Energy will include a provision excluding the firm’s projects in “Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara”.
Companies that want to be perceived as taking human rights responsibly, should not bid on a large tender that will connect Morocco's illegal energy production in Western Sahara to the Moroccan grid, WSRW warns.