Replacement of a marble cutting machine and polishing line in Morocco

Located in Taza, PIETRA is a stone and marble extraction and shaping unit, specialised in the cutting, processing and execution of marble cutting work. Interested in the benefits of new technologies and aiming to reduce its production costs and improve product quality, the company approached MorSEFF for its technical and financial support to replace its inefficient and old marble cutting machine and polishing line by newer more efficient technologies. The funding amount applied for was € 500,000.

The new polishing line with 16 polishing heads replaces the old single-head polishing machines, which had a low production and high energy consumption and also needed a continuous presence of operators. The now automatic cutting machine is equipped with a 110 kW asynchronous electric motor with a hydraulic coupler in order to vary the speed of the blades, to facilitate the starting of the machine, and to reduce energy consumption.

As the MorSEFF engineering team assessment confirmed, this investment allowed the company to decrease the energy consumption by 570 MWH (56.9%) and greenhouse gas emissions by 362.2 tCO₂e/year. The payback period of this investment is 7 years.

For the successful implementation of the energy efficiency project, Pietra was awarded a €50,000 grant, representing 10% of the loan amount.

Morocco Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (MorSEFF) was developed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in cooperation with the French Agency for Development (AFD), and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and supported by the European Union and the multi-donor account SEMED.