Morocco has commissioned the Boujdour wind farm in the southern part of the country, as part of the country’s national strategy to promote renewable energy.
The commissioning comes after the kingdom’s National Office of electricity and drinking water (ONEE) and the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN), signed a contract for the project with the Moroccan Nareva Holding and Italy’s Enel Green Power consortium.
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Integrated Wind Energy Project
The wind farm project is s the second project out of the five wind farms commissioned under the 850 MW Integrated Wind Energy Project. The others are located in the city of Midelt (180 MW), Jbel Lahdid in Essaouira (200 MW), Tiskrad in Tarfaya (100 MW), and Tangier II (70 MW). Total cost of the projects is estimated to be US $1.12bn.
Nareva Holding – Enel Green Power consortium, associated with Siemens Gamesa Renewables, won the international call for tenders in 2016 for the development, design, financing, construction, operation, and maintenance of the 850 MW Integrated Wind Energy Project and construction work set to begin in 2021.
Upon completion, the 850 MW Integrated Wind Energy Project will save Morocco approximately 2,380,000 tons CO2/year, equivalent to the consumption of a city the size of Casablanca, the statement concluded.
Morocco’s energy strategic objective
The national strategic objective is to improve security of supply by reducing dependence on energy imports, including increasing use of renewable sources for electricity production. By 2030, the country targets the green energy sector to to exceed 52% in the energy mix. In 2018, 1,212Â MW of wind power, 1,770Â MW of hydropower and 700Â MW of solar capacity were installed across the country.