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Wind
Morocco is second only to Egypt in wind capacity on the African continentPhotograph: amerune/Flickr
A consortium comprising France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF-EN) and Japanese trading house Mitsui has been named preferred bidder for Morocco’s 150MW Taza wind project, gaining a key toehold in a market set to add at least 2GW by the end of the decade.
Morocco’s national electricity office (ONE) chose EDF-EN and Mitsui over two other formidable short-listed consortia – one comprising Enel Green Power and Abu Dhabi’s national energy company Taqa, and the other International Power and Nareva Holding, which is effectively owned by the Moroccan royal family.
EDF-EN says it will use 50 Alstom 3MW turbines for the Taza project, located east of Fes, and that it will subcontract at least 30% of the construction work to local companies.
After building the project, EDF-EN and Mitsui will operate the wind farm under a 20-year agreement.
As a result of its victory, EDF-EN says it will establish a local subsidiary – EDF-EN Maroc – in Casablanca.
The Taza project is the first of a number of Rabat-backed projects intended to propel Morocco towards at least 4GW of renewables capacity by 2020 – split in half between wind and utility-scale solar.
Last month the tender process closed on another five wind farms totalling 850MW, with an announcement expected later this year.
With about 300MW of installed wind capacity, Morocco is second only to Egypt across Africa and the Middle East.
Although it added almost no capacity in 2011 – due in part to the political upheaval that rocked the region – the Moroccan government remains steadfast in its desire to become a significant producer and exporter of renewable electricity, and both the wind and solar markets are expected to pick up sharply over the next few years.
In January Siemens won its first wind turbine order in Africa when it was awarded a 100MW contract by Nareva for the Foum El Oued and Haouma projects, in southern Moroccoo and near Tangier, respectively.
Karl-Erik Stromsta, Copenhagen
Published: Monday, April 16 2012
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