On Monday afternoon, when a vast power failure hit the south of the Iberian peninsula, Morocco actively contributed to the resumption of the Spanish electricity network. Up to 38 % of its production capacity has been mobilized to transport electricity to Spain via the two interconnection lines located under the Strait of Gibraltar.
Usually net electricity importer from Spain, Morocco has reversed the energy flow at the request of the Spanish network manager. At the end of the day, the country exported 519 megawatts to the north, after importing 778 megawatts earlier during the day, according to data from the Electricity Maps platform. This support represented around 5 % of the electricity available in Spain at that time, but was praised as a significant gesture of solidarity.
The interconnection between the two countries is based on a double system of seven submarine cables connecting the Fardioua station, near Tangier, to that of Tarifa, in Andalusia. This operational link since 1988, whose maximum capacity reaches 1,400 megawatts, should be reinforced from 2028 by two new lines. The objective: to secure the energy supply of Morocco while consolidating the stability of transmediterranean electrical exchanges.
To quickly meet Spanish demand, Morocco has restarted several thermal power plants, supplied with coal and natural gas. The impact on its own network has remained limited to a few occasional cuts in the north and east of the country.
If the disturbances caused by the breakdown in Spain, Portugal and France have not affected Moroccan air traffic, they nevertheless disrupted certain digital services, including those of an operator whose main servers are hosted in Europe.
Electric interconnections between Morocco and its European neighbors have once again demonstrated their strategic role and their ability to operate in both directions. This is not a first: in 2022, the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline had been reactivated in the opposite direction, allowing Morocco to transport regzéified gas to Spain to its own power plants.
In an energy transition vision, the kingdom aims to bring the share of renewable energies to 52 % of its installed capacity by 2026, against 42 % today. Natural gas remains a transitional energy, pending the development of the green hydrogen sector. A strategic infrastructure is also under construction: a terminal for storage and regzéification of LNG at the port of Nador West Med, scheduled for 2027.
