Wind Energy

Wind energy in Morocco – New wind power plant with 300 MW

Morocco’s state Office National de l’Electricite (ONE) has concluded agreements with International Power and Nareva Holding for a 300 MW wind farm at Tarfaya. According to MEED, the power purchase agreement (PPA) for the sale of electricity from the wind farm has been agreed and signing is imminent. The PPA will run for 20 years at a price of MD 7.548 ($5.16) per kWh.

The bid has fully committed bank backing from local lenders Attijariwafa Bank and the Moroccan subsidiary of Groupe Banque Populaire. It will be financed on a 75:25 debt:equity basis, with the two sponsors providing half of the equity each.

Bids to build the wind turbines project were entered in July 2009 in three separate envelopes containing the technical, financial and tariff elements of each submission.

A rival bid for the contract was submitted by France’s GDF Suez. However, it was deemed non-compliant as it was not fully-funded. While GDF Suez’ bid had some backing from Belgium’s Fortis and France’s Credit Agricole CIB, it was not fully funded and so ONE declared it invalid.

www.meed.com/