Morocco and Portugal agreed to seek European Union support for a strategic electricity interconnection project that aims to secure EU funding while exploring private investments to ensure energy security and to strengthen energy ties between Europe and Africa.
The announcement comes after a meeting in Lisbon between Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, and Portugal’s Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, on Monday.
According to Reuters, the two countries will ask the European Commission to consider the project as an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI), making it eligible for EU funding.
The ministers said they would seek two financing tracks simultaneously: EU financial support and private investments, including electricity grid operators and utility companies.
“We have decided to first talk with the European Commission to see its interest in considering this as an important European project,” Carvalho told reporters after the meeting.
She then added that the project would strengthen Europe’s energy security by creating a new electricity connection between Europe and Africa, while helping Portugal diversify its electricity supply. Portugal is currently connected to the European electricity network only through Spain.
Benali said Morocco and Portugal share the objective of ensuring affordable energy access for citizens while reducing costs for households and businesses. “We want to ensure that we decrease costs, especially the affordability of energy access,” she said.
This initiative, first studied in 2018, has gained renewed attention following the widespread power outage that hit Spain and Portugal in April 2025. The blackout highlighted the weak electricity connections of the two countries with the rest of Europe.
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