Finland’s Wärtsilä to Install Power Plant in Morocco

The technology group Wärtsilä of Finland will supply a 22 MW baseload power plant to Morocco’s state utility (ONEE) under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.

The main evaluation criterion for the project was the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) during an operating period of 20 years. LCOE measures the operating period costs divided by the energy produced.

The power plant consists of two Wärtsilä 46 engines, operating on heavy fuel oil with the capability to use light fuel oil as a back-up. This order is booked in the second quarter of 2017. The equipment will be delivered in early 2018, and the plant is expected to be fully operational in January 2019.

The growth in energy demand in Morocco is a result of improvements in the population’s access to basic infrastructure – including electricity.

Wärtsilä Energy Solutions is a leading global energy system integrator offering a broad range of environmentally sound solutions. The company specializes in ultra-flexible internal combustion engine based power plants, utility-scale solar PV power plants, energy storage & integration solutions, as well as LNG terminals and distribution systems.

The flexible and efficient Wärtsilä solutions provide customers with superior value and enable a transition to a more sustainable and modern energy system. As of 2017, Wärtsilä has 63 GW of installed power plant capacity in 176 countries around the world.

With this new power plant, Wärtsilä will now have an installed base of 189 MW in Morocco, the total installed base in Africa being 6 GW. In 2016, Wärtsilä’s net sales totaled €4.8 billion with approximately 18,000 employees.

According to the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, the demand for energy will double by 2020 and will grow threefold by 2030 while the demand for electricity will double by 2020 and quadruple by 2030.

Morocco has placed a strong focus on the environment protection in its economic development plans. Its national energy strategy seeks to increase the contribution of renewable energies (wind/solar & hydropower) to the country’s installed power to 42 pc by 2020 and 52 pc by 2030.