Blog · 21 June 2026 · by Reda Kasri
Solar profitability and ROI by Moroccan city
5–7 year payback, production by city and ONEE tariffs: everything you need to know about solar profitability in Morocco.
When a client asks me whether "solar is profitable for them", my first question isn't the price. It's: which city, and what's your ONEE tariff bracket? These two parameters often weigh more than the panel brand. Here's how I reason about it, with the figures I have on hand.
Solar production by city: how many kWh per kWc installed?
It all starts with site yield, i.e. the number of kWh produced per kWc installed per year (called PVOUT). It depends on local sunshine, panel tilt, and system losses: wiring, inverter, dust on the glass.
The table below gives estimated brackets, calculated from PVGIS, Global Solar Atlas and Solargis data, with a system loss rate of about 14% and due-south orientation, with an estimated optimal tilt for each city.
| City | Estimated PVOUT (kWh/kWc/yr) | Estimated optimal tilt (due south) |
|---|---|---|
| Tangier | ~1,550 – 1,650 | 31° |
| Casablanca | ~1,620 – 1,700 | 29° |
| Rabat-Salé | ~1,620 – 1,700 | 29° |
| Fez | ~1,650 – 1,750 | ~32° |
| Marrakech | 1,779 | 28° |
| Agadir | ~1,750 – 1,820 | 27° |
| Ouarzazate | ~1,850 – 1,950 | ~28–30° |
Sources: PVGIS (European Commission); Global Solar Atlas (World Bank / Solargis); MDPI Resources 2024 13(10):140 (Marrakech, PR 78%). Other cities' brackets are estimates recalibrated on the Marrakech point — not a substitute for a PVGIS simulation at your exact address.
Consistency note: our yield-by-city page, drawn directly from our own PVGIS TMY 2005–2020 extraction (14% system losses, PR 86%), gives lower values for these same cities (Marrakech ~1,650, Casablanca ~1,650, Agadir ~1,686 kWh/kWc/yr) — an ~8% gap versus the Marrakech point above. This isn't a contradiction: the MDPI study measures GTI (plane-of-array irradiation) and applies its own performance-ratio assumption (PR 78%), different from our own PVGIS extraction (PR 86%) — two distinct methodologies applied to the same solar resource don't yield the same final PVOUT. For an estimate that exactly reflects our sizing method, see yield by city and our estimation methodology.
National benchmark: Morocco's PVOUT band sits between 1,600 and 1,900 kWh/kWc/yr (GSA). Installers often use the rule of thumb 1,500–1,800 kWh/kWc/yr depending on region.
Why is solar profitable in Morocco? The ONEE tariff mechanism
The tariff grid (verified by the founder, June 2026)
Current ONEE/régie residential low-voltage tariffs are as follows (incl. VAT, the REGIE_TARIFF grid — the same one our online estimator uses):
| Monthly consumption | Tariff (DH/kWh) | Billing mode |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 100 kWh | 0.9010 | progressive |
| 101 – 150 kWh | 1.0732 | progressive |
| 151 – 210 kWh | 1.0732 | selective |
| 211 – 310 kWh | 1.1676 | selective |
| 311 – 510 kWh | 1.3817 | selective |
| > 510 kWh | 1.5958 | selective |
Grid verified by the founder (June 2026), identical to the one our online estimator applies — see our estimation methodology and yield by city for the live source. Lydec/Casablanca and Redal/Rabat are currently matched to this same grid (a conservative posture pending a reference bill from each utility); Amendis/Tangier follows the same bracket structure. An older grid (0.90/1.07/1.18/1.45/1.66 DH/kWh, sourced ~2015 via aggregators like kherba.com and calculateur.ma) previously appeared on this article — it is replaced by the grid above, more precise and aligned with the estimator.
Freshness note: these tariffs have been stable for several years. Check calculateur.ma or with your distributor if you're reading this article after 2026.
The "selective" mechanism: solar's leverage effect
This is the key point many consumers miss:
- Below 150 kWh/month, billing is progressive: each bracket is billed at its own rate.
- Above 150 kWh/month, billing becomes "selective": the entire month's consumption is billed at the rate of the bracket reached.
Concrete example: a household consuming 250 kWh in July doesn't pay the first 100 kWh at 0.9010 DH then the rest at 1.0732… It pays the entire 250 kWh at the 211–310 kWh bracket rate, 1.1676 DH/kWh (a 10 kWh tolerance per bracket softens narrow overshoots).
What solar removes is precisely this high marginal rate applied to the whole bill. Take a household in the 311–510 kWh bracket that pulls 200 kWh a month off the grid thanks to its panels: it saves those 200 kWh at the marginal rate of 1.3817 DH, not at the apparent average rate of its old bill. That's the whole reason profitability climbs for heavy consumers, and it's also what I check first on a bill before pricing anything.
Return on investment: 5 to 7 years (installer consensus)
The standard residential payback is 5 to 7 years — a figure consistent across all the installer sources consulted (solaropeak.com, ecovolt.ma, electrosolarplus.ma, lechantier.ma).
What influences payback:
- Your current tariff bracket: the higher your bracket (≥ 1.3817 DH/kWh), the greater the annual savings and the faster the payback.
- Installation cost: indicative 2026 bracket of ~10,000 to 14,000 DH/kWc (equipment + install, installer sources — unaudited). See our pricing guide.
- Your self-consumption rate: Law 82-21 organises low-voltage self-generation, but no residential (BT) buy-back tariff is published yet — the ANRE has only published a buy-back tariff for medium/high/very-high voltage (0.18–0.21 DH/kWh), not for homes under 11 kW. Until that BT tariff exists in black and white, we don't price in any export revenue: solar's real value is in immediate consumption, not in reselling an unvalued surplus (see our estimation methodology).
- The battery: adding storage stretches payback by 1 to 3 years but increases the evening self-consumption rate.
Over 30 years, once the installation is paid off, every kWh produced is nearly free. Modern panels lose about 0.4%/year of performance and the old market standard (PERC cells) guaranteed them at ~80–85% of initial capacity at 25 years — the N-type panels we install go beyond it: a linear performance warranty over 30 years, at ≥ 87.4% of initial power at 30 years (i.e. ≥ 89.4% at 25 years).
Simulate your installation
The figures above are market brackets. Your real profitability depends on your consumption, your city, and your roof's surface and orientation. Get a personalised quote for a precise estimate.
ONEE/régie tariffs (REGIE_TARIFF grid) verified by the founder, June 2026. Yields by city: PVGIS/Global Solar Atlas/Solargis estimates recalibrated on the Marrakech measurement of 1,779 kWh/kWc/yr (MDPI Resources 2024, PR 78%) — this field study uses a performance-ratio assumption different from Taqinor's own PVGIS TMY extraction (PR 86%, see /ensoleillement-maroc), which explains the ~8% gap versus the site's own yield table: the two figures don't contradict each other, they apply different methodologies. Payback 5–7 years: consensus of 2026 Moroccan installer sources.