transmission and distribution losses of up to 13 percent in 2012. Regulation was carried out by government directly until the creation of an autonomous regulator, ANRE in 2016. Overall, the sector’s institutional arrangements have shaped reform design and implementation. Thus, a selective and incremental approach to market reforms preserves the influence and market share of legacy actors, by restricting the scope of the private sector and new government agencies through the single buyer market structure and territorialized electricity distribution.

What explains Morocco’s distinct power sector reform experience? How did the country attract private investment in electricity generation and distribution and achieve electrification without extensive textbook model reforms? Will Morocco’s institutional arrangements in the power sector endure, adapt to or be disrupted by the country’s energy transition? What lessons does Morocco’s power sector reform experience provide for other developing countries?

The analysis in this paper addresses these questions over the period 1990 to 2017. It draws on technical and financial data from Morocco’s utilities and external databases, and from stakeholder interviews. Where necessary, these data are supplemented by published studies. The paper describes the chronological timeline of reform and examines the sector’s performance along the security of supply, electricity access and affordability, utility efficiency and financial viability, and tariffs and cost-recovery. The paper is structured in two main parts: Part I is a chronological timeline of reform and Part II examines the sector’s performance along key indicators as well as their underlying institutional arrangements. The rest of the ‘Introduction’ section presents the policy and institutional framework of Morocco’s power sector.

# The Policy and Institutional Framework of Morocco’s Power Sector

The policy and institutional framework of Morocco’s power sector is comprised of a national energy strategy, several public and private operators and a series of laws linking the core elements of this strategy with implementing agencies (Figure 2; Tables 1 and 2). Morocco unveiled a new National Energy Strategy in 2009 with clear objectives around five pillars. These are to: optimize the fuel mix in the electricity sector; accelerate the development of energy from renewable sources especially wind, solar and hydropower to help reduce import dependency and diversify the nation’s industrial base; make energy efficiency a national priority; encourage more foreign investment in the energy sector including in oil and gas exploration; and promote integration into the regional electricity and gas grids.<sup>5</sup> Implementation plans include the installation of a total of 2GW each of wind and solar power generation capacity by 2020 with the aim of bringing renewable energy capacity in power generation to above 40 percent of the total energy mix. Morocco’s submission to the UNFCCC as part of its intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) includes the objective to reach 52 percent of installed electricity generation capacity from renewable sources by 2030.

> 5 (IEA, 2014, p. 22)

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