PV Magazine International
Emiliano Bellini
The Moroccan agency for sustainable energy is pre-qualifying developers for the Noor Midelt II project, a solar complex incorporating CSP and PV elements.
The process is open for Morocco’s Noor Midelt II solar, CSP and storage project.
The Moroccan agency for sustainable energy (Masen) has issued a request for quotes (RfQ) for the Noor Midelt II solar project.
Developers have until September 16 to pre-qualify for the tender to develop and build the project.
The solar complex, to be built near Midelt in central Morocco through a public-private partnership, is expected to have a capacity of 230 MW and to include CSP as well as PV technology. The project is also expected to include energy storage.
Finance arrangements for the facility will be similar to those arranged for the Noor Midelt I project being constructed by an EDF-led consortium, with funding provided by the African Development Bank, French Development Agency, European Investment Bank, World Bank, Clean Technology Fund, German development bank KfW, the European Commission and private investors.
The plant, one of the projects planned by Masen as part of its Noor Solar Plan to develop at least 2 GW of generation capacity by next year, will sell the electricity it generates to the agency under a 25-year power purchase agreement.
Other Masen projects include the 170 MW Noor PV I project, the solar portion and fourth phase of the 580 MW Ouarzazate Solar Power Station, a CSP-PV solar complex in the Drâa-Tafilalet region of central Morocco. The solar plan also includes the 120 MW Noor Tafilalet plant, tendered in 2017; the 200 MW Noor Argana project, expected to be tendered this year; and the Noor Atlas projects, a 200 MW scheme to deploy seven PV plants in the south and east of the country.
