Wind and Solar Energy Resources in Morocco: Current Status and Assessment up to 2050

This chapter’s aim is to overview the current state of renewable energy in Morocco, its portion in the country’s energy sector and prospects of future development in terms of climate change impact on wind and solar energy resources. Dependence on international energy markets and increasing demand for energy are significantly loading the Moroccan economy, which in turn determines the renewable energy as an only way for Morocco to be energy-independent. In this respect, Morocco’s National Energy Strategy of 2009 presupposes an increase in installed capacity from renewable energy sources to 52% by 2030. The chapter contains an overview of modern wind and solar resources, features of their distribution over the territory of Morocco and seasonal changes. It describes the results of climatic parameters influencing wind and solar resources (wind speed at a height of 10 m above the surface downwelling short-wave radiation) for the period up to 2050, their values in the previous climatic period (1971–2000) and spatial distribution. Possible changes in these parameters in the near future are analyzed, and the features of their seasonal changes and factors influencing the intra-annual variations are described. The possible changes in the spatial distribution of the theoretical wind power potential in 2021–2050 comparing to 1971–2000 are presented. The current climatic conditions in the areas of the main wind farms and solar power plants are examined, and, in order to estimate their prospective use, the results from climate models for these areas are provided. Finally, authors draw conclusions about the near-future development of wind and solar energy in Morocco and make recommendations considering possible climatic changes.