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Wind energy in Morocco: French led consortium wins wind farm bid
The Taza wind power plant will be equipped with 50 Alstom wind turbines of 3.0 MW each.
A consortium led by EdF Energies Nouvelles, and also comprising Mitsui and Alstom, was selected as the preferred bidder by Morocco’s Office National d’Electricité (ONE) for the 150 MW Taza wind farm.
EDF Energies Nouvelles, Mitsui and Alstom will subcontract at least 30 % of the civils and construction of this project to Moroccan companies.This new 150 MW wind power project launched by ONE in May 2011 under a public-private partnership scheme will be followed in 2012 by an additional 850 MW tender process. Pre-qualification is in progress for this. Keen to leverage on its extremely good sun and wind conditions, Morocco plans to develop at least 2.0 GW of wind energy and 2.0 GW of solar power by 2020.EDF Energies Nouvelles will open a 100% owned subsidiary in Casablanca, called EDF EN Maroc, and this company along with Mitsui will be responsible for the design, financing, development and construction of the Taza wind power project and will operate the wind farm under a 20 year agreement.Morocco is already one of the continent’s leaders in terms of wind power. In 1999 it had 14 MW wind capacity installed and this had increased to 291 MW in 2011.www.esi-africa.com
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