Morocco picks EDF green arm for wind farm project

Morocco has picked a consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles, the renewable arm of France’s EDF, to build a wind farm, the French utility said on Monday, in one of the kingdom’s first projects in an ambitious plan for green energy. The Taza wind project, with a capacity of 150 megawatts (MW), is to be located in northern Morocco to the east of Fes. Morocco, which has no oil production and relies heavily on energy imports, wants to make the most of its ample wind and sunlight to become a top renewable energy producer. The kingdom aims to build 4,000 MW in wind and solar power capacity by 2020 to meet nearly half its energy consumption. The project will be equipped with 50 Alstom wind turbines of 3 MW each. EDF Energies Nouvelles, Mitsui and Alstom will subcontract at least 30 percent of the construction work to Moroccan companies. The group did not disclose the financial terms of the project, nor a schedule for the start-up of production. The project will be followed in 2012 by another tender for renewable power production capacity of 850 MW. A landmark project is the 500 megawatt project in the southern region of Ouarzazate, which is the first of five in a $9 billion solar program that is planned to account for 38 percent of Morocco’s installed power generation capacity by 2020.