The Moroccan government launched the Global Rural Electrification Program (PERG) in January 1996. This program is the most popular and federative project of the Office National De l'Electricite (ONE) that aims to provide electricity to all of Morocco's rural areas. The program has clear objectives to promote and facilitate social and economic development as well as rural world advancement, satisfying three levels:

• Territorial: To provide an electricity supply to all rural habitations of the kingdom in a short term.

• Technical: To examine all the electrification techniques available to meet the requirements of each Moroccan habitation in acceptable techno-economic conditions.

• Financial: To maintain PERG responsibility for all financial resources.

To ensure it met these three objectives, ONE addressed each issue and prepared a Rural Electrification Master Plan designed to complete the project in minimum time using least-cost technologies.

ONE's Master Plan

For ONE to have a clear view of the position required to meet the program's objectives, it assessed the territory to determine the total investment required to supply 34,000 villages. Surveys were required to establish a database of demographic, social, economic and administrative details for each village, and to collect and establish geographical information on the existing electricity supply networks. Acquiring sufficient computing facilities enabled ONE to make rational decisions regarding the needs of each community by addressing the following issues:

• Number and location of each village to be included in the program

• Source of scheme finance

• Means of affording a supply (for example, connected to ONE's network or a renewable energy source)

• Project timing (proposed year for village electrification)

• Estimated cost of the scheme to supply the village

• Impact on the village community.

The techno-economic evaluation used to determine the PERG Master Plan considered three important issues:

• Population density based on the average distance between habitations of a same village or between small groups of habitations.

• Regional balance. ONE will finance the construction of networks in provinces and regions where the existing networks are deemed inadequate. This decision will enable the existing distribution networks to be extended and reinforced in a manner designed to accelerate PERG.

• Internal profitability rate of each project.

The Master Plan specifies the development of the electricity supply network in the country and considers the mobility of the rural population of the kingdom; therefore, the plan is reviewed every two years. An inter-ministerial Committee for Rural Electrification Program (CoSPER) was established to approve ONE's Master Plan, which had to satisfy several predetermined criteria; the principle of village selection for electricity supplies is least-cost per habitation.

Rural Electrification Funding

Three sources — local communities, beneficiary habitations and ONE — provide the funding for PERG. The agreed contributions paid by each party are evaluated as follows:

• Local communities pay 2085 Dirhams (DH) (US$181) per habitation or 500 DH (US$43) per habitation per year for a five-year period.

• Beneficiary habitations pay 2500 DH (US$218) per habitation or 40 DH (US$3.5) per habitation per month for a seven-year period.

• ONE pays the outstanding balance for each village scheme.

PERG encourages the population's participation in the funding. However, for particular schemes with limited population, funding support can be obtained from other associations, such as the Agency for the Social and Economic Promotion and Development of Northern Provinces, as well as other province and regional administrations.

Progress on Rural Electrification

During the first three years of the program (1996 to 1998), ONE's distribution network connected 2728 villages with 284,000 habitations. The funding for these schemes required an outlay of 2700 million DH (US$240 million) to provide electricity to a population of 2 million. In 1999, an additional 1650 villages with some 154,000 habitations were connected to the electricity system, the rate of connection to the electricity system being 46% higher than in 1998. Electrogene groups were responsible for the electrification in eight villages in the provinces of Taza, Khemisset and Errachidia. Figure 1 shows the MV distribution system. Figure 2 shows the villages on supply.

CoSPER approved the acceleration to the Master Plan that will now result in the electrification of 1500 villages per year and will bring PERG to a close in 2006 instead of 2010. Furthermore, to maintain regional equilibrium, ONE will extend the electricity network with high- and medium-voltage lines to regions where the existing networks are inadequate to supply the proposed electrification schemes. Figure 3 shows the number of projects in hand at the end of 2000. Figure 4 shows a geographical of the rural electrification projects to achieve regional equilibrium.

From 1999 to 2006, more than 1 million houses and 14,870 villages will connect to an electricity supply via ONE's distribution networks and another 200,000 houses will be equipped with solar energy or photovoltaic kits.

The Master Plan acceleration will substantially increase the annual investment between 1 million DH and 1.5 million DH (US$0.08 million to US$0.13 million). This will increase construction work, but regardless of the total investment, completion of PERG should give birth to 13,000 direct work opportunities.

The author would like to thank the Office National De l'Electricite (ONE) for providing the information used in writing this article.

Electrification by Solar Energy

Approximately 10% of the houses in rural Morocco will be equipped with individual photovoltaic (PV) kits. This technique will be used in those villages where the habitations are scattered. It would be uneconomical to construct a conventional distribution network. ONE will contribute 55% of the total cost.

To encourage citizens to adopt this technique, ONE offered inhabitants a choice of three different management schemes:

• Direct action. ONE purchases and installs the PV kits with the assistance of the Centre of Renewable Energy Development (CDER) and provides guaranteed maintenance and after-sales service. This solution is adapted for difficult regions that are nonprofitable for private third parties.

• Provision of a service. ONE entrusts a private company close to the beneficiaries with the PV installation, after-sales service and debt collection. This is the scheme in operation at Boujaâd in the province of Khouribga.

• Partnership action. ONE provides PV panels and batteries to corporations selected via competitive tendering. These corporations are then responsible for installing the equipment and fittings at their own expense and also for equipment guarantees, maintenance and after-sales service. Their customers (beneficiaries) directly remunerate these corporations.