Morocco Energy Storage Testbed Project

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This project seeks to establish an energy storage testing platform in Morocco, which is to be part of a global network of energy storage testing facilities (starting with India, Morocco and South Africa) to accelerate the commercial deployment of pre/early-market energy storage technologies in developing countries and to improve renewable energy integration and increase energy access.This testing facility, or “testbed”, will address the significant and unique barriers facing developing nations in accessing the benefits of energy storage technologies. A “testbed” is a facility with capability to operate energy storage systems with controllable and standardized system configurations, use cases, and operational and environmental conditions, allowing developing countries to assess energy storage performance under realistic grid conditions. The Testbed would be part of a global “Network of Energy Storage Testbeds” (NESTs) that is developed as an initiative of the Energy Storage Partnership (ESP), a global partnership convened by the World Bank Group through its Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) to foster international cooperation to develop sustainable energy storage solutions for developing countries. The testbeds will serve to: 1) Enable low-cost demonstration and performance verification of pre/early-market technology in frontier markets to reduce risks for safety, functionality, and profitability;2) Allow the pace of performance demonstration to keep up with the rate of change in the global energy storage techno-economic landscape;3) Provide performance information as a global public could which as a consequence will inform instruments for risk reduction, such as warranties, and should help to mobilize commercial capital to the energy storage sector; and4) Build local and regional capacity of utilities and private sector players to operate energy storage systems in harsh weather conditions and weak grids of developing countries. The learning from the NESTs regarding performance of frontier energy storage technologies in developing country experience will be leveraged for the benefit of all World Bank client countries.