MOROCCO
\nAt Morocco\u2019s bustling Tangier-Med Port, where the Mediterranean Sea spills into the Atlantic Ocean, waters are often rough.
\nAs waves crash against the busy docks, two Moroccans are harnessing this energy throughout the day to power parts of Africa\u2019s largest port by night.
\nThey have designed a small device that can be fitted to floating docks, with buoys rising and falling as the ocean moves.
\nWith the devices connected to generators, the vertical movements of the waves, big and small, are converted into clean electricity.
\nOussama Nour and Mohamed Taha El Ouaryachi are founders of the start-up Advanced Third Age Renewable Energy Company (Atarec), which has created the prototype, known as Wave Beat.
\nMorocco has a vision to become Africa\u2019s green leader, and has taken huge strides towards that goal.
\nIn 2000, Morocco\u2019s renewable energy capacity was 1.2 gigawatts. Today, it surpasses 5GW \u2013 and the kingdom is on track to more than double it, to 12GW, by 2030.
\nAnd Atarec is prepared to be part of this national goal.
\nMr El Ouaryachi, 33, told The National that while other hydroelectric generators require installations specifically built offshore or in water bodies, Wave Beat can be attached to existing objects.
\n\u201cThis significantly cuts the cost of harnessing wave energy \u2013 a source of power which, unlike solar and wind, never ceases and is unaffected by weather conditions,\u201d he said.
\nLong-time friends Mr El Ouaryachi and Mr Nour wanted to create a device that efficiently capitalises on Morocco\u2019s 3,500km coastline to tap energy from the sea.
\nIn 2019, they started Atarec and spent their savings on creating Wave Beat.
\n\u201cThere were many challenges and we initially faced countless difficulties to get investors to support our technology. But we pushed through,\u201d Mr Nour said.
\nSince then, Wave Beat has been patented in 70 countries including Europe, the US and Japan.
\nIt was incubated by the Tangier-Med Port.
\nAtarec has also either signed or is in advanced stages of talks with several other ports, Mr El Ouaryachi said.
\nIn May 2022, the invention attracted investment from UM6P Ventures, the investment arm of Morocco\u2019s University Mohammed VI Polytechnic.
\n\u201cWith this development, we are keen on taking our project further, and bring change to the lives of many,\u201d Mr El Ouaryachi said.
\nExperts believe there is a \u201cserious need\u201d for Morocco to diversify its energy sources and build a path towards green electricity.
\nMorocco was ranked by the UAE\u2019s Energy Platform as among the top five countries in the Middle East and North Africa to generate electricity from solar power. It is one of the 10 developing countries drawing the largest investments in the renewable energy sector, according to the UN\u2019s 2023 World Investment Report.
\nBut the kingdom still imports about 90 per cent of its energy, mainly in the form of fossil fuels.
\n\u201cThe volatile global market, especially the soaring prices of fossil fuels, was a key driver in Morocco\u2019s scaling up its renewable energy projects, with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency and cutting spending,\u201d said Amin Bennouna, an energy expert and lecturer at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh.
\nIn 2021, Morocco\u2019s relations with its oil-rich neighbour Algeria reached a new low when Algiers cut its relations with Casablanca, halting about a billion cubic metres per year of piped gas. The gas had powered about 10 per cent of the country\u2019s electricity.
\nMorocco\u2019s renewable energy supplies soared by almost 10 per cent in 2021, a 2022 report by professional services firm Ernst and Young said.
\nIt rose from 7.3 terawatt\/hour (TWh) in 2020 to 7.9TWh in 2021.
\nTwo solar power plants and a wind farm coming into operation since then have increased renewable\u2019s stake in the energy market to more than 19 per cent in 2022, up from 18.5 per cent in 2020.
\nMorocco derives more than a third of its electricity needs from clean sources and is making steady progress towards achieving its 2030 target of 52 per cent.
\n\u201cMorocco still has a long way to go, as it continues to rely heavily on imported coal,\u201d Mr Bennouna said.
\nRenewable energies and sustainable development observer Mustapha El Bronzi said devices such as Wave Beat could bring significant change to the lives of Moroccans and others by harnessing clean sources of energy that are still not sufficiently used.
\nHe said the hard tech used in the device makes it \u201ca challenge to win over substantial funding to develop it\u201d, but if installed across the whole of Tangier port, Wave Beat could \u201cpower a city of one million people\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOROCCO At Morocco\u2019s bustling Tangier-Med Port, where the Mediterranean Sea spills into the Atlantic Ocean, waters are often rough. As waves crash against the busy docks, two Moroccans are harnessing this energy throughout the day to power parts of Africa\u2019s largest port by night. They have designed a small device that can be fitted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-354708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n