Japan’s Mitsui and France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles has submitted the cheapest bid for a project to build a 150MW wind farm in Taza province, northern Morocco after submitting a bid that was 11 per cent lower than the second-lowest bid.

Morocco’s Office National de l’Electricite (ONE), the client on the project, opened three bids. Technical bids were opened first, followed by financial bids. The three bids for the project were:

• Mitsui (Japan) and EDF Energies Nouvelles (France): MD5.75 a kWh ($0.68)
• Enel Green Power (Italy): MD6.43 a kWh
• International Power (UK) and Nareva (Morocco): MD6.70 a kWh

Taza wind farm will be constructed at a site located 12 kilometres northwest of Taza on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis. ONE will agree a 20-year offtake agreement with the chosen developer. The UK’s GL Garrad Hassan, France’s BNP Paribas and the UK’s Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are advisers on the project. The project is scheduled for operation by July 2014.

The project is part of Morocco’s plan to get 42 per cent of installed electricity capacity coming from renewable energy sources by 2020. Morocco is planning to develop a further 850MW capacity through five more wind farms.