Consortium of EDF, Masdar and Green of Africa win tender to build world’s first hybrid PV and CSP with storage solar plant in Morocco
The Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) announced the awarding of the tender for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the project Noor Midelt I to the consortium led by EDF Renouvelables (France), in collaboration with Masdar (United Arab Emirates) and Green of Africa (Morocco) after a competitive international bidding process.
© Masdar
The consortium members said:
“EDF Renewables, Masdar and Green of Africa would like to thank the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy and the King of Morocco for having designated our consortium as the successful bidder to develop the innovative NoorMidelt I with an installed capacity of 800 MW hybrid concentrated solar power and photovoltaic power plant. The consortium is fully committed to supporting MASEN and the realization of Morocco’s long-term renewable energy ambitions.”
The Noor-Midelt complex will be Morocco’s second concentrated solar power (CSP) complex built under the Noor Solar Plan. The Solar Plan is a critical component of the country’s goal of producing 52 percent of its electricity through renewable energy by 2030.
This first phase consists of two hybrid PV/CSP power plants (Noor‐Midelt I and Noor‐Midelt II) with a gross capacity between 300 and 400 MW each.
With a capacity of 800 MW, this innovative hybrid solar project gathers concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The hybridization of these technologies is a world first.
The combined operation of photovoltaic and CSP technologies increases the plant’s output to produce a flexible, dispatchable and competitive electricity for the Moroccan grid until five hours after sunset for a record-low tariff at peak hours of 0.68 Moroccan dirhams per kilowatt-hour.
The plant will be located 20km north of the town of Midelt in central Morocco, in the high plains surrounding the Moulouya River and between the Middle and High Atlas Mountains.
Construction on the project is expected to begin in the last quarter of 2019, while energy will be delivered to the grid in 2022.
Noor Midelt I is valued at approximately MAD 7.57 billion ($782 million). The project is funded by several financial intitutions including KfW, the European Investment Bank, the French Development Agency, the European Commission, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Clean Technology Fund.
The second phase of the Noor‐Midelt solar power complex will consist on two additional plants of similar characteristics built in adjacent lots.
Source: Press Release by EDF, World Bank and MASEN. Photo credit: Cylindro-parabolic mirrors at Noor Ouarzazate I. © Masen.
