Reuters
by Nina Chestney
The Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) has issued Morocco’s first green bond to help to finance the country’s development of solar power, it said on Monday.
The 1.15 billion dirham ($118 million) bond issue will help to fund three schemes that form part of the NOOR PV 1 solar power project. The schemes are to be developed in Laayoune, Boujdour and Ouarzazate with total capacity of at least 170 megawatts.
Green bonds are a fixed-income security designed to raise capital for low-carbon or clean energy investments.
Masen’s announcement was made on the first day of United Nations climate talks in Morocco, which aim to thrash out the rules and details of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Morocco aims to obtain 52 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030.
($1 = 9.7790 Moroccan dirham)
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by David Goodman)
