Africa’s largest wind farm to date is slated to begin construction as soon as a long-delayed financing agreement is completed, according to Wind Power Monthly.
Morocco’s state utility Office National d’Electricite (ONE) awarded a $350 million, 20-year PPA contract for the 300 MW Tarfaya wind power plant to a consortium consisting of the local firm Nareva and the UAE-based Karabel Fez/International Power (a subsidiary of GDF Suez Energy International) and International Power from the UK after months of haggling over the details.
The plant, which will be financed by Attijariwafa Bank, Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur (BMCE) and France’s Banque Populaire, will be built astride the Atlantic ocean in southern Morocco.
It is said to be the largest such plant on the African continent.
“The plant is to be constructed on a build, operate and transfer basis. The original idea was that it would be brought on line in phases of at least 50MW each, with the first 200MW completed in 2013. No new timetable has been revealed,” Wind Power Monthly reports.
Morocco has already installed 147MW of wind power with an additional 975 MW in the pipeline, according to a Wikipedia entry.
This combined with the country’s ambitious solar energy program brings the North African country closer to its goal of deriving 42% of the country’s overall energy demand from renewable sources by 2020.
Image credit: Wind turbine against blue sky, Shutterstock
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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Quote:
Very interesting article.
Only question is how much are they going to spend to install this power? and how much are they going to charge citizens?
The Indian windmill farms that started nearly a decade back are truly efficient and cheap to operate. Are Morrocans going to have the same advantage?
I really hope so. We can use similar technology in Saudi Arabia for remote areas like Rub Alkali or Assarawat Mountain ranges in Western Saudi Arabia villages of spartan populations to avoid expensive generators and burning of depletable fuel.
Below are 3 links to articles about the indian projects in different states and wind map to illustrate. Go luck to all.
Thank you for the post.
Unquote.