Theorizing Sovereignty in Empty Land - Contested Global Landscapes

European development advocacy groups have expressed reservations about the solar plan, raising
concerns about the technical and financial viability of the project as well as its equity implications
(Hickman 2011). The idea that Morocco is taking out billions of dollars in loans to produce energy for
export to Europe when the economic viability of the initiative is hardly assured raises questions about
externalizing the risk of Europe's renewable energy strategy to Morocco and other struggling economies
around the region. Advocates also wonder whether local people will benefit from the regional strategy to
export energy to Europe, as when a representative of Greenpeace Germany warns that "we have to avoid
European companies getting their hands on local resources" (Hickman 2011). The point of entry for their
critique is interesting, perhaps reflecting their positionality as European-based observers analyzing
DESERTEC's plan from the standpoint of published materials from DESERTEC itself and international
finance institutions supporting the project. The plan is new and sprawling and little research has been
conducted on the ground about its possible implications. The plan also elicits a more ambivalent response
from advocates than other perceived resource grabs or development policy iniquities. One report that
specifically addresses the Ouarzazate project, terming it an "EU energy grab," exemplifies this
ambivalence. It warms of "pumping money into a mega-project whose purpose is to generate electricity
for export to the EU instead of investing in enhancing energy access" but goes on to note that "such
concerns should not be misinterpreted: there is a clear need for a rapid transition to solar and other forms
of renewable energy globally. To the extent that this is prioritised above fossil fuel infrastructure, that is a
welcome development. However, this laudable end does not necessarily justify the means by which it is
achieved" (Reyes 2012:4). For the World Development Movement that released the report, the primary
concern is a Moroccan energy policy based on an "energy export and competitiveness-led model, to
which the goal of widening access and addressing poverty is subordinated" (11). In this context, the
Ouarzazate project is misplaced because of the financially and technically dubious decision to embark on
has been the largest recipient of EU aid for over a decade as part of the EU's Neighborhood Policy. Advanced status
includes preferential relations in terms of trade and other forms of cooperation and political dialogue. See
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/country-cooperation/morocco/morocco_en.htm for an official
description of this relationship.
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