Acwa Power to Bid on Noor Midelt Project after Its Success With Noor I

Rabat – Acwa Power, the Saudi Arabian company that built Noor I in Ouarzazate, plans to bid for the tender to construct the Noor Midelt solar power complex in Morocco.

“Our development team has been working on an offer for this project.” Badis Derradji, the manager for Acwa power projects in Morocco told L’Economiste on Monday.

At the beginning of the year, Masen, Morocco’s solar power agency, announced a call for expression of interest to develop the first phase of Noor Midelt. The overall investment in this project is estimated to be MAD 1.8 billion.

Noor Midelt, which is also known as NoorM I, will use a form of hybrid technology to combine concentrated solar power (CSP) with photovoltaics (PV), according to Masen. The facility is expected to produce 400 MW of energy once all phases are developed.

Acwa Power has previously won the bid to develop and operate the Noor I, II and III solar power plants in Ouarzazate as part of a consortium of corporate partners, which includes the Spanish companies Sener, Acciona and TSK Electronica y Electricidad. The construction of the Noor II and III phases is expected to be complete by the end of 2017.

Masen has also planned Noor solar projects in Laayoune and Boujdour, both of which are located in the southern part of Morocco.

In addition, Acwa Power is to begin construction on the 120 MW Khalladi wind farm in the northern part of Morocco in the coming weeks. The company secured the capital for the project in November 2015 with a MAD 1.3 billion loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur.