Morocco’s Masen prequalifies eight consortiums for 1.6 GW solar farm

Morocco’s Masen prequalifies eight consortiums for the Noor Midelt III solar farm: Morocco’s renewable energy agency Masen has prequalified eight consortiums for the development the 400 MW third phase of the 1.6 GW Noor Midelt solar complex in the Atlas Mountains after floating a tender for the project in August, according to a statement. The plant will be accompanied by a 400 MWh battery energy storage system.

Who threw their hat in the ring? The consortiums that submitted bids are:

• UAE’s Masdar and Taqa Morocco.
• KSA’s Acwa Power and Morocco’s Nareva Holding.
• France’s EDF Renewables and Japan’s Mitsui & Co.
• Spain’s Acciona and Moroccan-based Green Of Africa — a JV made up of local firms O Capital Group and Akwa Group.
• Oman-based Kahrabel FZE (owned by France’s Engie) and France’s GDF International (another Engie subsidiary).
• China’s Huanghe Hydropower Development (a subsidiary of the State Power Investment Corporation) and UAE’s Amea Power.
• Spain's Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios (a subsidiary of Grupo Cobra) and France's Vinci Concessions..
• Spain’s IberdrolaInternacionalRenovables.

Next steps: The selected bidder will manage design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the solar farm and will raise the capital needed to finance the project. The agency did not provide a timeline on when it expects to award the tender for the project.

Progress on the remainder of the 1.6 GW complex: Back in July, Masen pre-qualified six consortiums including ones led by EDF and Acwa Power to establish the 400 MW Noor Midelt II solar project, while Noor’s 800 MW first phase continues to be put on pause due to disagreements over CSP tech. The first phase — which was handed to a consortium led by EDF — was expected to start delivering electricity to the grid last year.

All under Morocco’s renewables push: Morocco wants renewable energy to account for 80% of its total power generation by 2050. The country plans to more than triple allocations for renewables projects to MAD 14 bn (c. USD 1.4 bn) between 2023-2027 as part of a target to have 50-52% of its energy come from renewables by 2030. Morocco’s installed capacity of renewables stood at more than 4 GW as of 2022.