The National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) has mobilized an investment worth around 2 billion dirhams for strengthening the electricity supply in the southern provinces, announced ONEE director general Abderrahim El Hafidi. In a statement to MAP, on the occasion of the launch of a major project to extend the Agadir-Laayoune electric power transmission to the 400/225 kV shielded substation in El Haggounia (Tarfaya province), El Hafidi said it is a «strategic» project that will have a «very positive» impact on the overall cost of Kw produced from renewable energy. «This is a new generation substation which is built in an aggressive context and in an environment with huge external environmental constraints», he explained. The director general of ONEE highlighted the «enormous potential» of the southern provinces in terms of renewable energy and the structuring mega projects launched there for the production of this energy from wind power. This project launched in El Haggounia, which aims to ensure the evacuation of renewable energy under development in these provinces, with an additional capacity of 1200 MW, consists of the construction of the second 400 kV Agadir-Laayoune line, totaling 2 billion dirhams, requiring, among other things, the extension of the 400 kV part of the El Haggounia substation. The existing substation became operational in 2016 as part of the project to evacuate wind farms in the southern region and to foster the supply of electric energy. The ONEE underlined that this «strategic» project will have positive repercussions on the development of the southern regions and will help reinforce the security of electric energy supply, the satisfaction of the growing demand, the upgrading of the renewable energy potential, as well as the economic and social development of these regions.
