CONCESSION APPROACH IN RURAL ELECTRIFICATION BECOMES POPULAR IN MOROCCO EXPERIENCES AND ACHIEVEMENTS AFTER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 16,000 SOLAR HOME SYSTEM PROJECT OF PERG-KFW

摘要

Supported by the German KfW Development the Moroccan electricity utility ONE is implementing a project on the electrification of 16,000 rural households by means of Solar Home Systems. This first large-scale project with SHS in Morocco is based on a concession approach. Being chosen as the lead consultant for project preparation, management and monitoring as well as quality control PROJEKT-CONSULT GmbH assisted in designing the fee-for-service model for wide-scale rural electrification. A service company is in charge not only of installation services, but also of identification of clients, collection of monthly fees as well as maintenance services for a period of 10 years. Challenges in this approach lie in the organizational service structure which has to be built up in large and decentralized rural zones: the company structure has to keep pace with a growing number of clients. Moreover the capacity of the technical and commercial staff has constantly to be built up in order to meet the increasing maintenance requirements of the customers. While these starter problems are being solved, the approach has already proven his capability to lead SHS large-scale projects to success and has convinced the national utility ONE to tender a large number of additional concessions using the same set-up.