The two farms, one of which will be a 140MW installation at Tangiers in the north of the country, and the other supplying 60MW at Tarfaya in the south, will be a significant boost to the country’s fledgling wind industry. At present Morocco’s only wind farm is the recently constructed 50MW farm at Tetouan in the far north, near Tangiers.
“With more than 3,500 km of coastline, Morocco is ideal for the development of wind power,” a spokesperson for the governmental L’Office National de l’Electricité told edie on 3 August. “For this reason on 1 August it was announced that nine consortiums were selected to participate in the tender.”
The spokesman said that groups in the running for the 1November closing date include the US electricity giant AES Corporation and Spanish electricity groups ENDESA and Iberola. According to government rules, a Moroccan investor must also be responsible for at least 14% of the projects’ value.
With the construction of the new wind farms expected by 2003, Morocco’s wind power capabilities will almost equal those of Italy, and will exceed those currently generated by Sweden, Norway and Finland combined.