Morocco Shortlists Five Consortia For Noor I

• Morocco's Masen has shortlisted five consortia that will be considered for projects under Noor Midelt Phase I
• These consortia are led by ACWA Power, EDF Energies Nouvelles, ENGIE, Innogy and JGC
• The project comprises two power plants both hybrid PV and concentrated solar thermal power with storage
• Winning developers will be required to design, finance, construct, operate and maintain the plants

Morocco has shortlisted five consortia that will compete against each other to develop Phase I of the Noor Midelt project. It comprises two power plants, both hybrid PV and concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) power plants with storage. The gross capacity of the CSP part is between 150 and 190 MW for each project. The PV capacity will be proposed by the developers.

Five consortia were selected by the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) out of seven applicants:

• ACWA Power Consortium: International Company for Water and Power Projects General Electric Company  
• EDF Energies Nouvelles Consortium: EDF Energies Nouvelles, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co. PJSC – Masdar, Green of Africa, Sener Ingeneria Y Sistemas  
• ENGIE Consortium: International Power S.A (Engie) , Nareva Holding S.A., SolarReserve LLC, Solaire Direct S.A.S.  
• Innogy SE Consortium: Innogy SE, Belectric GmbH , Ferrostaal Industrial Projects GmbH  
• JGC Consortium: JGC Corporation, Abener Energia S.A.

The winning developer will need to provide design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the plants.

Morocco is targeting to achieve a minimum total capacity of 2,000 MW solar by 2020 based on its multi-site and multi-technology Noor Solar Plan. Out of this, it has already launched 680 MW in Ouarzazate, Laayoune and Boujdour. ACWA Power has already scored for one of the earlier projects –  it started work on the Noor Ouarzazate IV plant in April 2017 (see ACWA Begins Work On 72 MW Morocco Project).

Masen was reportedly planning to launch tenders for two solar power plants by the start of 2017 (see Morocco Solar Tender For 800 MW).