Red Eléctrica, the Spanish grid operator, recorded a 33.6 percent jump in net electricity flowing from Spain to Morocco between January and October 2026. Hespress English reported that this volume reached 4,106 gigawatt-hours (GWh), up from 3,074 GWh in the same period last year. October alone saw a 26.6 percent rise in these imports, while power sent from Morocco to Spain dropped by nearly 99 percent, effectively halting reverse flows.
This shift reflects a widening gap between local demand and generation capacity. Hespress English noted that consumption in Morocco climbed 8.4 percent in the first half of 2026, whereas local production grew by just 1.6 percent. By August, the disparity had persisted, with output rising 2.8 percent against an 8.9 percent increase in usage, according to figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Renewable energy output under specific legislation contributed to the modest production gains, though it was not enough to offset the demand surge.
The strain on the national grid has manifested in repeated outages affecting industrial zones. Hespress English identified disruptions in the Marrakech-Safi, Drâa-Tafilalet, and Tangier regions during late October and early November. Industry sources indicated that major manufacturers faced load shedding, where available power was cut to half of normal levels for several hours. One facility reportedly endured five such interruptions, forcing it to suspend non-essential production lines to maintain core operations.
The undersea interconnection linking the two nations has become critical for meeting peak demand. In 2025, net exchanges favored Morocco by 3,743 GWh, the largest volume since 2017. The average utilization rate of this link rose to 85 percent of available hours last year, up from 75 percent in 2024. However, technical constraints on the Spanish side, including renewable energy fluctuations, occasionally limited export capacity, creating temporary interruptions that coincided with local load shedding in Morocco.