shale oil and nuclear in the 1980s, coal and natural gas from the 1990s until 2009, and now renewable energy – and proposals from ONEE to address short term concerns and avoid power shortage. These generation and transmission plans are however, not mandatory, the process for developing them is not transparent and participatory, and they do not generally lead to timely initiation of procurement (see annex). While there is a procurement framework for new generation plants, inclusive of public auctions, there is no procurement framework for transmission lines although it is subject to competitive tenders.

_Table 3: Institutional arrangements for power sector planning and procurement in Pakistan and comparators, 2015_

||**Egypt**|**India**|**Morocco **|**Pakistan**|**International**<br>**benchmark**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Planning and Procurement**|82%|78%|61%|63%|71%|
|Generation Planning|71%|57%|43%|29%|56%|
|Procurement of Generation|100%|95%|100%|100%|85%|
|Transmission Planning|75%|75%|50%|25%|74%|
|Transmission Procurement|83%|83%|50%|100%|68%|

_Source: Rethinking power sector reform project, 2015_ _For the more detailed planning and procurement index, see Table A2 and A3 in the annex._ ONEE’s mandate over short-term considerations often overwhelm its coordination of various projects but does not undermine its implementation of the sector’s longer-term strategic objectives. ONEE’s 20 to 30-year master plans are used for annual reporting, rather than informing decisions on generation and transmission. These nominal plans are not very impactful since they are based on assumptions beyond the utility’s sphere of influence. Schedules for the installation of additional capacity can often be overoptimistic. The forecasting of demand, a key input during the planning process, is not always satisfactory because realistic estimates of disaggregated demand require high quality granular data that are not always available.<sup>44</sup> With respect to the RE strategy, it was the strong political commitment that placed it on the agenda, rather than an outcome of technical forecasts and planning by key government agencies.<sup>45</sup> Multiple goals are pursued in a seemingly conflicting manner. For instance, Laws N°13-09 and N° 2-15-772 allow private renewable energy producers access to electricity end-users while the largest share of projects developments is assigned to the state-owned ONEE and MASEN; new PPAs are announced in gas, coal and fossil-fuel plants while clean energy technologies are simultaneously promoted, and the tariff structure remains rigid.

Nevertheless, ambitious reforms are still pursued within this institutional configuration of powerful legacy stakeholders wedded to the status quo. There is a tendency to create new agencies entrusted with implementing specific projects, bypassing legacy state-owned companies, which are then allowed to retain their influence and market share.<sup>46</sup> Thus, the decision to assign the implementation of the solar plan to MASEN was largely to ensure

> 44 A recent World Bank investment project, the “Clean and Efficient Energy Project” aims to build capacity on demand planning.

> 45Interviews with Moroccan power sector policy makers, 8 February 2017.

> 46 Interviews with Moroccan policy makers, 2 February 2017.

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