The National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) and the Association of Electricity Companies of Africa (ASEA) have inaugurated the first Smart Grid platform in Africa at the Center for Electricity Science and Technology (CSTE) in Casablanca, on Tuesday. This technologically advanced platform is equipped with two 40 Kilowatt-peak (kWp) photovoltaic solar plants, a 1 kWp wind turbine, a meteorological station, and a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) monitoring system.
During the inauguration ceremony–which was attended by Abderrahim El Hafidi, Director General of ONEE, and Abel Didier Tella, Director General of ASEA–El Hafidi stated, “Morocco has made significant progress in the field of renewable energy in the national electrical system,” emphasizing the need to address new challenges, especially in the field of artificial intelligence.
Tella explained that the platform’s equipment supports ONEE’s renewable energy development policy and aligns with Morocco’s vision for energy development. He also mentioned the platform’s potential to strengthen electrical capacity in African countries and to reinforce ONEE’s role in enhancing the entire continent’s electrical capabilities.
ONEE is enhancing its center as a state-of-the-art training hub, attracting an average of 100 executives and technicians from Sub-Saharan African countries annually for electricity-related training.
The CSTE–selected as a Center of Excellence by the African Network of Centers of Excellence in Electricity (ANCEE) in 2013–is a key part of ONEE’s policy of strengthening South-South cooperation.
The project aims to promote sustainable energy solutions and strengthen the resilience and operational efficiency of power grids in Africa.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) fully funded the project–which was valued at over 4 million MAD–as part of the African Network of Centers of Excellence in Electricity (RACEE) initiative, which highlights a continental initiative launched in 2016 under the impetus of ASEA to improve the performance of African utilities and the skill levels of African managers and technicians.