MOROCCO Law and Practice Contributed by: Wacef Bentaibi, Benoit Pape, Chaimaâ Bouhami and Maxime Masurier, Gide Loyrette Nouel
planning, approvals required to use or acquire certain categories of land, etc). 1.4 Sale of Power Industry Assets Generation Assets A distinction must be drawn between assets devel- oped by private operators under Law 13-09 and assets developed by ONEE or Masen under long-term IPP arrangements. Renewable energy projects under Law 13-09 Renewable energy installations developed by private operators are governed by Law 13-09. • Installations above 2 MW require nominative authorisation from the MTEDD. Transfer of an authorisation (≥ 2 MW) is void in the absence of prior administrative approval. • Installations between 20 kW and 2 MW are sub- ject to a declaration regime. Transfer of a declared installation requires only prior notification. A change of control is treated as an indirect transfer subject to prior approval of the MTEDD. At the expiry of the authorisation (maximum 25 years, renewable once), the facility and site revert to the State free of encumbrances, or are dismantled at the operator’s expense. Projects developed by ONEE Generation projects developed by ONEE through IPP arrangements are typically structured as build-own- operate-transfer (BOOT) based on long-term PPAs. The generation assets revert to ONEE following the PPA term, and any transfer or change of control of the IPP is subject to approval modalities defined in each PPA. Projects developed as part of the Masen programme For large-scale renewable projects, Masen selects private developers through competitive tenders and structures each project through a dedicated project company in which it holds a minority stake. The output produced by such project company is sold to Masen and ultimately to ONEE. Any transfer of assets or change of control in the project company is governed
by the project-specific agreements (PPA, sharehold- ers’ agreement and framework convention with the State). Transmission Assets Transmission infrastructure remains under ONEE’s exclusive ownership and operation on the basis of Dahir (ie, Royal Decree) No 1-63-226 (“ONEE Dahir”). Transmission assets cannot be freely transferred or sold to private operators. Distribution Assets Electricity distribution networks form part of the public domain of the relevant municipality; they are placed at the SRM’s disposal as returned assets ( biens de retour ) under the relevant delegated management contract. Hence, they may not be assigned, sold, leased or encumbered for the duration of that con- tract (Law 83-21, Articles 11 and 12). Following the enactment of Law 83-21, the distribution sector is being restructured through SRMs, incorporated as joint-stock companies at regional level (Article 2). SRMs may open their share capital to private inves- tors, provided the State’s shareholding does not fall below 10% (Article 4). 1.5 Central Planning Authorities Overview Morocco does not have a single independent central planning authority for the electricity sector. Instead, oversight and planning functions are shared among several state entities. ONEE acts as the de facto cen- tral system operator and planner, under the regulatory oversight of ANRE. MTEDD The MTEDD holds primary responsibility for energy policy, including security of supply and the low-car- bon transition. It elaborated the 2009 National Energy Strategy targeting 52% of installed generation capaci- ty from renewable sources by 2030. The MTEDD exer- cises administrative supervision over ONEE, Masen and other energy agencies, and has decision-making authority over authorisations for renewable energy installations under Law 13-09 and self-production installations of 5 MW or more under Law 82-21.
245 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook