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Introduction

For a long time, self-generation of electricity in Morocco was addressed only through a fragmented framework, derived chiefly from Article 2 of Dahir No. 1-63-226 of 5 August 1963 establishing the National Office of Electricity ("ONEE"), as amended and supplemented, which had already allowed, subject to certain conditions, certain forms of generation for own use and, for certain private producers, access to the grid within a contractual framework with ONEE. That regime was, however, fundamentally recast by Dahir No. 1-23-21 of 10 February 2023 promulgating Law No. 82-21 on the self-generation of electrical energy (the "Law No. 82-21"), which was intended to regulate the activity of self-generation of electrical energy "regardless of the generation source, the nature of the network, the voltage level and the capacity of the installation used." Operators nevertheless remained pending the concrete implementing arrangements for this new framework. That is precisely the purpose of Decree No. 2-25-100 of 5 March 2026 (the "Decree No. 2-25-100"), which now sets out the conditions and procedures governing the construction and operation of self-generation installations.

The new Moroccan self-generation regime requires an examination of the qualification of the self-producer and the legal control over the installation (I), the regime applicable according to installed capacity and voltage level (II), the central importance of connection, hosting capacity and the technical study (III), as well as the conditions governing the sale of surplus electricity, the rules relating to metering, network-use charges and, in due course, storage (IV).

I. The Qualification of the Self-Producer as the Cornerstone of the Regime

A. A Qualification with Two Components: Self-Consumption and Legal Control over the Installation

First, the regime cannot be understood without returning to the definition of the self-producer. Law No. 82-21 defines a self-producer as any natural or legal person, governed by public or private law, who produces electrical energy exclusively for its own self-consumption and who owns the self-generation installation or enjoys the right to dispose of it (Law No. 82-21, Art. 2). The text therefore combines a functional element — allocation of the output to selfconsumption — and a legal element — ownership of, or the right to dispose of, the installation.

Decree No. 2-25-100 confirms this point. Under the off-grid declaratory regime, the declaration for construction must be accompanied by a certificate of ownership of the property or any document establishing the right to dispose thereof, together with an undertaking to dedicate production exclusively to one’s own needs and not to transfer any part of that production to a third party (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 1). At the operational stage, the decree requires a document establishing ownership of the self-generation installation or the right to dispose thereof (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 3). This requirement reappears with respect to the operation of installations subject to declaration in LV (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 9), those subject to the connection approval regime (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 15), and, by cross-reference, those subject to the authorization regime (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 21). It follows that legal control over the installation constitutes one of the operative criteria for access to the regime.

The reference in Article 2 of Law No. 82-21 to the fact that the self-producer must own the selfgeneration installation or "enjoy the right to dispose thereof" nevertheless calls for an interpretative clarification.

At first glance, one might be tempted to equate that latter phrase with the right of disposal understood in the classical law-of-property sense, as reflected inter alia in Article 14 of Law No. 39-08 on the Code of Real Rights (the "Code of Real Rights"), namely the power to alienate the asset. Such a reading, however, appears difficult to reconcile with the overall logic of the statutory definition of the self-producer. If the "right to dispose thereof" were to be understood as the sole abusus, then, save in the case of full ownership, the status of selfproducer could be recognized only in favor of the bare owner of the installation. Yet the bare owner, although it classically retains the faculty to alienate the asset, has neither its use nor its enjoyment, which belong to the usufructuary. In those circumstances, the bare owner could not itself produce electrical energy for its own self-consumption, since such activity necessarily entails use of the installation and enjoyment of the benefits it yields. Accordingly, the combination, in Article 2 of Law No. 82-21, of the requirement that the person own the installation or enjoy the right to dispose thereof, on the one hand, and the requirement that such person produce electricity for its own self-consumption, on the other, leads to the view that the legislature most likely did not intend to refer solely to the right of disposal in the strict sense of abusus. On this reading, the "right to dispose thereof" required by Law No. 82-21 should instead be understood as a legally sufficient right of enjoyment over the installation, enabling the person concerned effectively to operate it for the purposes of its own self-consumption.

B. The Requirement of a Sufficient Title over the Installation and Its Consequences for Contractual Structuring

For projects intended for tertiary and industrial sites, the involvement of a third-party developer, builder, maintainer or financier is not, in itself, prohibited. By contrast, the beneficiary of the self-generation regime must be able to demonstrate, pursuant to Article 2 of Law No. 82-21, that it owns the self-generation installation or enjoys the right to dispose thereof. Decree No. 2-25-100 confirms that requirement at the operational stage, by referring, depending on the case,to a document evidencing ownership of the installation or the right to dispose thereof (Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 3, 9, 15 and 21).

That requirement should nevertheless be distinguished from the documents required at the offgrid construction stage. At that stage, Article 1 of Decree No. 2-25-100 refers to title to the land on which the installation is to be built, or any other document establishing the right to dispose thereof. By contrast, at the operational stage, both Law No. 82-21 and Articles 3, 9, 15 and 21 of Decree No. 2-25-100 focus on ownership of the installation itself or on the right exercised over it. It follows that, at the construction stage, the decree appears to proceed on the basis of control over the site of implementation, whereas the law and the provisions governing operation focus on the legal status of the self-generation installation itself.

In that regard, the legislature cannot have intended, in all cases, to require a right of ownership over the installations. If that had been the meaning of Article 2 of Law No. 82-21, the separate reference to the self-producer’s "enjoying the right to dispose thereof" would be deprived of any useful effect. Likewise, Articles 3, 9, 15 and 21 of Decree No. 2-25-100, which allow one to establish either ownership of the installation or the right to dispose thereof, would be reduced to a mere redundancy. It must therefore be understood that the Law and the Decree do not necessarily require full ownership of the installation, but instead allow another legal title to suffice, provided that it enables the self-producer to operate the installation for the purposes of its own self-consumption (Law No. 82-21, Art. 2; Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 3, 9, 15 and 21).

On that basis, leasing or asset-availability structures do not appear to be excluded in principle. PLA-type arrangements, or more broadly leasing structures, accordingly appear capable of being contemplated, provided that the economics of the contract confer upon the self-producer sufficient legal and operational control over the installation, consistent with the statutory definition.

The analysis must therefore be undertaken on a case-by-case basis, having regard to the powers actually conferred on the operator over the works, the movable or immovable classification of the asset, the rights created over the supporting land and, where relevant, the rules applicable to financial leasing (Law No. 82-21, Art. 2; Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 3, 9, 15 and 21).

Where the installation is erected on land owned by another person or has an immovable character, the structuring may moreover be secured through the creation of a real right recogniz a zina right (Code of Real Rights, Arts. 116, 117, 121, 122 and 131 to 133).

II. Structuring the Self-Generation Regime by Installed Capacity and Voltage Level

A. A Normative Gradation Between Declaration, Connection Approval and Authorization

First, Law No. 82-21 establishes a gradation of the legal regimes applicable to self-generation, the triggering thresholds of which were specified by Decree No. 2-25-100.

The declaratory regime thus applies to self-generation installations connected to a selfconsumption installation not connected to the national electricity grid, as well as to installationsconnected, or intended to be connected, to the low-voltage ("LV") network where their installed capacity is below 11 kW.

The connection approval regime applies to installations with a capacity equal to or greater than 11 kW and not exceeding 5 MW, where they are connected to a self-consumption installation that is connected, or intended to be connected, to the LV or medium-voltage ("MV") network.

Finally, the authorization regime applies to installations with a capacity equal to or greater than 5 MW, where the self-consumption installation is connected, or intended to be connected, to the MV, high-voltage ("HV") or extra-high-voltage ("EHV") network (Law No. 82-21, Arts. 3 to 6; Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 5, 11 and 18).

For C&I projects, that gradation is decisive. It means that most medium-sized operations fall within the connection approval regime, whereas the larger projects fall within the authorization regime.

It also means that the applicable regime cannot be determined by considering each generating unit in isolation where several units are installed on the same site: Law No. 82-21 requires, in such a case, the installed capacity of all installations making up the self-generation site to be aggregated (Law No. 82-21, Art. 11).

The legally relevant capacity is therefore not necessarily the capacity of each individual unit, but that of the functional whole connected to the same self-consumption site.

B. The Particular Impact of Structures Involving Access to the Grid

That initial structuring immediately requires a clarification. The law on self-generation is not limited to the situation in which the self-generation installation and the self-consumption installation are connected without any use of the grid. Law No. 82-21 also provides, subject to certain conditions, for access to the national electricity grid in order to connect the generation site to the self-consumption site (Law No. 82-21, Art. 7).

That right of access requires, in particular, a nominal capacity of at least 5 MW, the approval of the national electricity transmission grid operator ("GRT") and, where access is sought to the MV grid, the approval of the relevant distribution grid operator ("GRD"), together with an undertaking to enter into a grid access agreement (Law No. 82-21, Art. 7). It follows that, beyond the mere capacity thresholds, the legal structuring of the project also depends on whether or not there is use of the grid within the meaning of Article 7 of Law No. 82-21.

That distinction is important in practice. So long as the project remains within a proximity-based model, the applicable law is structured essentially around declaration, connection approval or authorization depending on capacity and voltage level.

By contrast, once the project entails access to the grid within the meaning of Article 7, the self-generation regime becomes directly articulated with the law governing access to the networks and, accordingly, with the technical specifications of the National Electricity Transmission Grid Code ("CRENT") or of the MV distribution networks, as expressly provided by Article 27 of Decree No. 2-25-100.

III. Connection, Hosting Capacity and the Technical Study: Substantive Conditions of Feasibility

A. The Centrality of Connection Within the Regime

Decree No. 2-25-100 places connection at the heart of the regime whenever the self-generation installation is connected, or intended to be connected, to the national electricity grid, except - as is self-evident - in the case of non-connected installations (Law No. 82-21, Art. 3; Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 1 to 4).

Thus, under the declaratory LV regime, the decree requires a connection diagram, verification of hosting capacity, reservation of capacity and the signing of a connection agreement before the installation is built (Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 6 to 10).

Under the connection approval regime, which constitutes the default regime for installations with a capacity between 11 kW and 5 MW (Law No. 82-21, Art. 5; Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 11), the application for construction must include, inter alia, the connection diagram, the technical characteristics of the equipment, the implementation schedule and a report on annual electricity consumption (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 12). The implementation of the installation is then framed contractually, through the conclusion of a connection agreement setting out the applicable technical and commercial conditions. Connection therefore does not appear as a mere technical sequel to the project; it constitutes one of the legal foundations of its implementation.

The authorization regime reproduces the same logic in a more stringent form (Law No. 82-21, Arts. 6 and 7; Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 18 to 22). The file likewise contains a technical connection component, hosting capacity is verified, a technical study is required, and final reservation occurs only after signature of the connection agreement (Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 18 to 20 and 27).

B. Hosting Capacity and the Technical Study as Conditions of the Project’s Compatibility with the Electricity System

Law No. 82-21 expressly formulates the hosting-capacity rule only in respect of self-generation installations based on renewable energy sources connected to the national electricity grid (Law No. 82-21, Arts. 2 and 14).

For such installations, declarations, connection approval applications and authorization applications are subject to the hosting-capacity limit, with capacity being reserved according to the order of priority determined by the date and time at which the files are received (Law No. 82-21, Art. 14). The law also provides that each GRD must communicate the hosting capacity available within its area to the GRT, which is responsible for calculating and updating that hosting capacity and then transmitting it to the National Electricity Regulatory Authority ("ANRE") for approval and publication (Law No. 82-21, Art. 23). It is in that framework that ANRE approved and published, for the 2026-2030 period, the hosting capacities of the national electricity system (ANRE Decision No. 01/26 approving and publishing hosting capacity).

Decree No. 2-25-100, for its part, implements that logic at the procedural level. Under the declaratory regime applicable to installations connected, or intended to be connected, to the low-voltage network, the GRD verifies the availability of the required hosting capacity and reserves it according to the chronological order in which complete files are received (Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 7 and 8).

Under the connection approval regime, the relevant GRD likewise verifies the availability of hosting capacity. After payment of the study costs, it proceeds to a provisional reservation and then, if the technical study yields positive results, to a final reservation after signature of the connection agreement (Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 13 and 14).

Under the authorization regime, the GRT likewise verifies the availability of hosting capacity, proceeds to a provisional reservation after payment of the study costs, and then to a final reservation after the authorization has been granted and the connection agreement has been signed (Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 19 and 20).

It follows that the law and the decree do not use hosting capacity in exactly the same manner. In Law No. 82-21, that notion is expressly defined and mobilized with respect to self-generation installations based on renewable energy sources connected to the national electricity grid (Law No. 82-21, Arts. 2 and 14). In Decree No. 2-25-100, the verification of hosting-capacity availability appears, more broadly, as a procedural step in the connected regimes, namely in the low-voltage declaratory regime, the connection approval regime and the authorization regime (Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 7, 13, 19 and 20).

The processing of connection approval applications and authorization applications for the construction of self-generation installations further requires a technical study prepared by the GRT, at the applicant’s expense, in accordance with the operator’s specifications, the technical regulations and the approved grid codes governing connection and grid access (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 27).

That study must in particular verify the conformity of the installation’s data and technical characteristics, determine the works necessary for connection, assess their cost and timetable, evaluate the impact of integrating the installation into the grid in light of the hosting-capacity assessment, current and forecast connection requests, and load and voltage-drop constraints, and establish the operating parameters needed to ensure the grid’s security, reliability and efficiency (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 27).

Where access to the grid is requested, the study must also take into account, as the case may be, the technical specifications of the CRENT or those applicable to MV distribution grids (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 27; Law No. 82-21, Art. 7). The technical study is therefore not a mere administrative formality: it is the mechanism through which the project’s compatibility with the operation of the electricity system is verified.

The administration and the grid operators accordingly verify whether the grid can in fact accommodate the installation, having regard to available capacity, other pending requests and the technical constraints of the system (Law No. 82-21, Arts. 14 and 23; Decree No. 2-25-100, Arts. 13, 19 and 27). In other words, even if the file is complete and the project is economically sound for the relevant site, it cannot proceed unless it is technically integrable into the grid under conditions compatible with the grid’s security, reliability and efficiency (Decree No. 2-25-100, Art. 27).

IV. The Place of Surplus Electricity, Metering and Network Charges Within the Self-Consumption Regime

A. The Sale of Surplus Electricity as an Ancillary Faculty

Fourth, the sale of surplus electricity must be placed back within the overall scheme of Law No. 82-21. Article 12 authorizes the self-producer to sell to the relevant national electricity grid operator a proportion not exceeding 20% of annual output as surplus electricity generated by the self-generation installation; it also provides that the tariff applicable to such surplus is to be set by ANRE (Law No. 82-21, Art. 12). The law thus recognizes a faculty to sell surplus electricity, but within strict quantitative and institutional limits. The sale of surplus electricity is not the core of the regime; it is an ancillary complement to it.

In this regard, ANRE set, for the regulatory period running from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, the surplus tariff at 21 centimes per kilowatt-hour during peak hours and 18 centimes per kilowatt-hour during off-peak hours (ANRE Decision No. 04/26 setting the tariff for surplus electrical energy produced under Laws No. 40-19 and No. 82-21). ANRE also specified that, for that first regulatory period, the tariff applies to the HV and EHV networks as well as to MV distribution networks, with the LV case being deferred to subsequent regulation. For projects intended for tertiary and industrial sites, that clarification is significant, since the larger operations frequently fall within the MV segment or above.

B. Articulation of the Sale of Surplus Electricity with the Economics of Grid Use

The sale of surplus electricity cannot, however, be isolated from the regime governing networkuse charges. Self-producers using the grid must pay, in addition to the network-use tariff, a contribution for the benefit of the relevant operator in order to receive system services and distribution services (Law No. 82-21, Art. 13).

In that context, ANRE adjusted, with effect from 1 March 2026, the national transmission griduse tariff ("TURT") to 6.85 cDH/kWh (ANRE Decision No. 02/26 adjusting the TURT), the medium-voltage distribution network-use tariff ("TURD) to 6.07 cDH/kWh (ANRE Decision No. 03/26 adjusting the TURD), and the remuneration for system services ("TSS"") to 6.81 cDH/kWh (ANRE Decision No. 02/26 adjusting the TURT).

The consequence is clear: the economic balance of the project cannot be inferred from the buyback tariff for surplus electricity alone; it must be assessed in the light of the self-consumption rate, the voltage level and the corresponding regulatory charges.

C. Continued Grid Connection, Metering and Storage

The general scheme of the regime is further confirmed by the provisions dealing with continuity of supply and metering. Article 10 of Law No. 82-21 prohibits the relevant grid operator from interrupting the customer’s electricity supply solely on the ground that the customer has a selfgeneration installation connected to its self-consumption installation. It also permits amendment of the subscription agreement, which the grid operator may not refuse, subject to compliance with Law No. 82-21 and its implementing texts (Law No. 82-21, Art. 10).

Articles 18 to 20 of Law No. 82-21 further require, save for certain off-grid installations - namely self-generation installations connected to a self-consumption installation, both of which are not connected to the national electricity grid - the installation of a smart meter for billing purposes, compliant with the applicable metrological specifications, installed by the relevant grid operator, and allowing the self-producer to view in real time the quantities withdrawn from and injected into the grid. ANRE is tasked with setting the minimum conditions applicable to metering and to the determination of surplus electricity (Law No. 82-21, Arts. 18 to 20). Finally, Article 15 provides for the possibility of installing energy storage and benefiting from storage services under conditions to be laid down by regulation (Law No. 82-21, Art. 15). The legal regime applicable to projects intended for tertiary and industrial sites therefore appears as a regime of self-consumption supported by the grid, measured through metering and potentially optimized, in due course, through storage.

Conclusion

In sum, as applied to projects intended for tertiary and industrial sites, Decree No. 2-25-100 has four principal effects: it confirms that the status of self-producer requires a sufficient title over the installation; it completes the legal regime applicable according to installed capacity and voltage level; it makes the project’s feasibility conditional upon hosting capacity, connection and the technical study; and, finally, it governs the sale of surplus electricity within an overall framework dominated by self-consumption, metering and regulated use of the grid.