For most cities, growing mountains of waste are an expensive problem to manage. Casablanca wants them to become part of its electricity supply. The Moroccan city has awarded a $1.5 billion concession to develop what will become the country’s first integrated waste-to-energy plant and one of Africa’s largest projects of its kind. Instead of sending millions of tonnes of rubbish to landfill every year, the project will convert much of that waste into electricity while recovering recyclable materials and capturing landfill gas that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. Once completed, the facility will process around 1.5 million tonnes of municipal waste annually roughly 4,000 tonnes every day, serving a metropolitan area of more than four million people. That waste will feed a power plant with an installed capacity of 115 MW to 126 MW, combining waste incineration, landfill biogas recovery and on-site solar generation. Annual electricity production is expected to approach 1 TWh, enough to supply close to one million people.
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The project reflects Morocco’s attempt to solve two challenges at once. Casablanca’s landfills are coming under increasing pressure as the city’s population and waste volumes continue to grow. At the same time, Morocco is working to diversify its electricity mix and reduce dependence on imported fuels. Rather than treating waste management and power generation as separate problems, the city is bringing them together under a single long-term concession. The winning consortium combines international expertise with local partners. Swiss-Japanese waste-to-energy specialist Kanadevia Inova has partnered with Moroccan energy company Nareva and Japanese investment group Itochu to finance, build and operate the facility over a 33.5-year concession.
The project goes beyond simply burning waste for electricity. It will integrate waste sorting, recycling, landfill management, biogas recovery and energy production into one system, creating what Morocco hopes will become a model for circular economy infrastructure. Construction is expected to begin once financing reaches financial close later this year, with commercial operations targeted for 2030. If successful, the project could become more than just Morocco’s largest waste-to-energy facility. It could provide a blueprint for other African cities facing the same combination of overflowing landfills, rising electricity demand and growing pressure to reduce emissions.
