By Christopher Hopson in London
Morocco wants to build 2GW of wind
GDF Suez and its local partner Nareva Holding have started commercial operations from Africa’s largest wind farm, the 301MW Tarfaya project in southern Morocco.
The €450m ($625m) development comprises 131 Siemens 2.3MW turbines, spread over 8,900 hectares. The debt financing for the project was provided by a consortium of three Moroccan banks.
The construction of Tarfaya started in January 2013 and the phased commissioning in tranches of 50MW each began in June 2014.
The wind farm will supply Morocco’s state utility under a 20-year power-purchase agreement. Tarfaya will help to generate electricity for 1.5 million households.
Tarfaya represents 15% of the 2GW wind energy target set by the Moroccan government and is a major part of the country reaching its objective of achieving 42% installed capacity from renewables by 2020.
