{"id":41492,"date":"2026-08-04T13:28:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T11:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=41492"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:44:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T11:44:56","slug":"morocco-to-build-1-5-billion-waste-to-energy-plant-in-casablanca","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/morocco-to-build-1-5-billion-waste-to-energy-plant-in-casablanca\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco to build $1.5 billion waste-to-energy plant in Casablanca"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>A consortium led by Swiss-Japanese firm Kanadevia Inova said it plans to start building a $1.5 billion waste-to-energy plant in \u200bCasablanca by the end of the year, with full operations expected \u200cby mid-2030.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The facility in Morocco&#8217;s largest city will be the second of its kind in Africa and aims to generate electricity while reducing methane emissions and other environmental impacts from the Mediouna \u200blandfill, the largest in the country.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Waste management firm Kanadevia Inova and its partners \u200bsigned a concession agreement awarded by Casablanca&#8217;s city government on Monday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The \u2060consortium includes Moroccan energy company Nareva and Japan&#8217;s Itochu.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Kanadevia Inova said that once \u200boperational, the plant will process about 1.5 million metric tons of waste annually and \u200bgenerate around 115 megawatts of electricity from a mix of waste, solar power and landfill gas, enough to supply nearly 1 million people.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Opponents of such plants including environmental scientists, climate activists and local \u200bcommunity groups say they undermine recycling initiatives and emit particulate matter and greenhouse \u200bgases as most of them rely on incineration.<\/div>\n<div>Construction in Casablanca would begin once debt and equity \u200cfinancing were \u2060fully secured by the fourth quarter of this year, Kanadevia Inova&#8217;s Chief Executive Bruno-Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Baudouin said in an interview with Reuters.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He said the plant, to be built by Moroccan construction company Somagec, should take about 3.5 years to complete, although waste treatment \u200band electricity generation \u200bcould begin six to \u206010 months before final completion.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The consortium has also secured a power purchase agreement with state-owned electricity utility ONEE and would seek \u200bfinancing from Moroccan lenders, Baudouin said.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The debt will be all \u200blocal,&#8221; he \u2060said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Mediouna landfill on the outskirts of the city has for decades generated foul odours and pollution that seeps into nearby farmland, while decomposing waste releases methane and other \u2060greenhouse gases.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Baudouin \u200bsaid the new plant could reduce greenhouse gas \u200bemissions by an amount equivalent to around 20% of Switzerland&#8217;s annual emissions.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It&#8217;s like removing 300 000 cars from the \u200broad,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13693,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-41492","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The \u2060consortium includes Moroccan energy company Nareva and Japan's Itochu.","published_date":"","news_description":"The \u2060consortium includes Moroccan energy company Nareva and Japan's Itochu.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41494,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41492\/revisions\/41494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}