RABAT, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Moroccan ministry of energy underlined that the country is on track to produce 42 percent of its electrical power from renewable energy by 2020 and 52 percent by 2030, local media reported on Wednesday.
Citing Morocco's energy ministry new plan for developing energy sector between 2017 and 2021, the financial daily L'Economiste said Morocco will exceed the fixed goals.
In 2008, Morocco launched the National Renewable Energy and Efficiency Plan, an energy program aiming at having 42 per cent of its total energy produced from renewable sources (solar, wind and hydroelectric sources) by 2020.
During the Climate Summit (COP 21) held in Paris in 2015, Morocco's King Mohammed VI announced that Morocco will achieve 52 percent of its electrical power from renewable energy in 2030.
Apart from renewable energy, the ministry revealed that it plans to set up new onshore LNG terminal, near the coastal city of El Jadida, the same source noted.
The site will house storage facilities for at least 5 billion cubic meters of LNG per year, it pointed out.
As for mines, Morocco aims during the period from 2017 to 2021 to triple the sector's turnover, which stands at 1.58 billion U.S. dollars, it said.
Deprived of hydrocarbon reserves on its soil, Morocco imports more than 90 percent of its energy resources.
Morocco has launched ambitious energy plans with the aim to unburden itself from an over-reliance on historic suppliers like Algeria and Spain with a series of shale gas and LNG projects, as well as plans for developing renewable energy.
These projects are partly aimed at coping with the rapid growth of energy demand in the north African kingdom, which is expected to increase by 6.2 percent between 2017 and 2025.
