Spanish renewables group Nabrawind Technologies has signed the sale of its first “Self-erecting Nabralift Tower,” which will be installed in Morocco.
Rabat – The tower will have a hub height of 144 meters, the tallest on the African continent, and a rated power of 3.6 MW.
The press release by Nabrawind does not specify the proposed location of the tower but states installation will begin at the end of the year.
Morocco is a leader in renewable energy infrastructure projects. The country has ambitious targets to bring national electricity production to 52% by 2030 and is well on track to reaching its 2020 goal of 42% renewable energy production.
The deal for the Nabralift tower shows Morocco’s willingness to invest in state-of-the-art technologies. Nabralift is a new wind turbine technology, and the Moroccan contract is the first order of the design.
Unlike other designs, the Nabralift tower can be installed without using large-size cranes, thanks to a new self-erecting system at the base of the tower pylon.
This lowers the need for special installation equipment costs and allows the tower to be installed on difficult terrain.
The Nabralift design also has a lower-cost foundation. Other towers with a gravitational foundation can require 500 meters cubed of concrete and 60 tons of steel for installation into the ground.
Read also: Morocco on Track to Generate 42% of its Electricity from Renewable Energies by 2020: CNN
The Nabralift foundation only requires 80 meters cubed of concrete and 10 tons of steel. According to Nabrawind, this makes it “60% cheaper than the traditional [tower].”
The current tallest wind turbine in Africa is in South Africa, a 115-meter tall tower installed by Siemens Gamesa.
Under Morocco’s Integrated Wind Energy Project, the country aims to bring the installed capacity of wind farms to 2000MW by 2020.
Launched in 2010, the strategy has a total investment value of MAD 31.5 billion (approximately $3.2 billion).
