Portugal and Morocco will ask the European Commission to consider a long-mooted power interconnector between the two countries as a candidate for EU funding, they said on Monday, while also exploring \u200cprivate-sector investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A crippling power blackout in Spain and Portugal in April 2025 exposed the Iberian Peninsula\u2019s limited electricity links with the rest of Europe, helping revive plans for a Portugal-Morocco link first studied in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iberia has only 3 percent of its electricity capacity connected to neighbouring European countries, well short of the EU\u2019s \u206015 percent interconnection target for 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such a link with Morocco would strengthen energy security in Portugal, currently only connected to Spain, by providing an additional source of power in the event of disruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portugal\u2019s Energy Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho said Lisbon and Rabat had agreed to raise the prospect of the power link being considered an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) with EC Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A new Europe-Africa electricity connection would strengthen both continents\u2019 energy security and cooperation, Carvalho said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have decided \u200cto \u2060first talk with the EC to see its interest in considering this as an important European project,\u201d Carvalho told reporters after meeting Morocco\u2019s Energy Transition Minister Leila Benali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Portugal and Morocco will pursue two tracks simultaneously, seeking access to the EU\u2019s Connecting Europe funding facility and \u2060testing investor appetite through a private-sector expression of interest process from grid operators and utilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to overcharge our contributors or our consumers,\u201d Carvalho said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benali said the two countries wanted \u201cto \u2060ensure that we decrease costs, especially the affordability of energy access\u201d for both populations and a number of sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carvalho said it was still too early to \u2060say whether the project would involve a direct subsea cable between Portugal and Morocco or make use of infrastructure via Spain, which already has an electricity interconnection with the North African country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Portugal and Morocco will ask the European Commission to consider a long-mooted power interconnector between the two countries as a candidate for EU funding, they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,15,47,62,16,354],"tags":[22,166,41,713],"class_list":["post-4193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-business","category-energy","category-europe","category-finance","category-morocco","tag-business","tag-energy","tag-morocco","tag-portugal"],"yoast_head":"\n