MOROCCO, A NEW ENERGY PARTNER?

On April 28, Portugal suffered an energy blackout that resulted in around ten hours without electricity. Although it wasn't a problem exclusive to the country - Spain and parts of France were also affected - Portugal faced a more fragile position in terms of energy providers. While Spain relied on support from France and Morocco, through its energy connections with these countries, Portugal had to restart its power plants in black start, i.e. the autonomous resumption of power plant operations without relying on external supply networks.

Spain, which is connected to the Moroccan electricity grid via two submarine connections linking the transformer station in Fardioua with its Spanish counterpart in Tarifa, received up to 38% of Morocco's production capacity, which corresponded to 5% of all the electricity being used in Spain. Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, made a point of emphasizing how fundamental this support was to the smooth resumption of normal operation of the Spanish electricity grid.

According to studies carried out in 2022 by MED-TSO, the Association of Mediterranean Transmission System Operators, a submarine link between Tavira and Béni Harchane would be possible at a total cost to be shared between the two countries of 650 million euros. With a length of 265 kilometers and a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, these cables would avoid Portugal's energy isolation, connected exclusively to Spain until now, reduce regional asymmetries in energy prices and make a positive contribution to the integration of renewable energies into the grid. The connection with Morocco has been debated since 2017, a discussion that began in Rabat on the occasion of the 13th Luso-Moroccan Summit, but without much progress on the matter. According to Jornal Económico, following the blackout, contacts have already been resumed between the Portuguese and Moroccan governments with a view to discussing the project. It is not yet clear what caused the blackout, only that after a sudden drop in voltage in Spain, 15 gigawatts of energy disappeared from the electricity system, around 60% of total production.

Sources

MA-PT Project Sheet, MED-TSO (2022);

"Auto-estrada da luz com Marrocos custa 325 milhões e reduz apagões", Jornal Económico (9 maio 2025, André Cabrita Mendes).