By the end of the decade, Morocco hopes to generate a full 2,000 megawatts of wind energy, but for now, the North African country needs all the help it can get from foreign investors. No stranger to wind, GDF Suez from France inked a 20 year deal with to build and operate a 300 MW plant in the Tarfaya Desert. At the end of two decades, Africa’s largest wind plant to date will be owned by Morocco.
GDF Suez and Morocco’s Nareva Holding have jointly invested in the new plant which will be built in the southern part of the country.
Each firm will contribute USD 122 million, according to Chief Executive Gerard Mestrallet told the press last week, while the remainder of the USD540.99 million project will be covered by Attijariwafa Bank, Banque Centrale Populaire and Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur from Morocco.
When operational by the end of 2013, the Tarfaya plant is expected to generate two fifths of the country’s total wind capacity and help bridge the gap between demand, which rises by about six percent every year according to Reuters, and supply.
:: Reuters
Image of wind turbines in the desert, 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.
