Renewables: Morocco expands wind power to enhance its Green Economy

Morocco is determined to speed up its transition to a low-carbon economy with the signing lately of new contracts for the building of a 300 megawatt wind farm in the southern province of Boujdour.

The contracts of the wind farm to cost over €375 million were inked by the state-run electricity & water company (ONEE), the Moroccan agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), and a consortium including Moroccan energy firm Nareva Holding, Italy’s Enel Green Power and Siemens Wind Power.

The Boujdour wind park is part of the 850 MW Integrated Wind Energy Project worth $1.22 billion, including five wind farms planned across the North African country, particularly in the town of Midelt (center of the country), Tarfaya in the south, Tangiers (North) and in Essaouira on the Atlantic coast.

The combined electricity produced from these wind farms will enable Moroccan government to save approximately 2,380,000 tons CO2/year.

Morocco aims to tap its wind potential to increase power generation from wind farms to 2,000 MW by 2020 from around 600 MW currently at a cost of more than $3.7 billion.

The North African country is planning to generate 42 pc of its energy from renewables by 2020, with one-third coming from solar, wind and hydropower.

As part of a low-carbon economy endeavor, Morocco has set an ambitious program seeking to increase the contribution of renewable energies in the national energy mix to 52 pc in 2030.