Morocco and Portugal are considering building an undersea electricity link to enable the exchange of electricity between the two countries.

The proposed interconnection, which would have a capacity of about 1,000MW, would be the first network link between Morocco and Portugal.

Morocco’s Office National de l’Electricite et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) has invited consultants to submit bids for the contract to provide a technical and economic feasibility study for the planned scheme by 8 August.

Bidders have been asked to submit two copies: one in French for ONEE in Morocco and one in Portuguese for the relevant utilities company in Portugal.

Morocco is currently undertaking of major renewable projects as part of its programme to boost electricity capacity in the kingdom. Rabat has set a target of 42 per cent of power generation to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. This is scheduled to include a total wind power capacity of about 2,000MW.

In March, ONEE selected the consortium of Enel Green, the local Nareva Holding and Germany’s Siemens to develop five wind farms with a total capacity of 850MW. The developer consortium is expected to spend $1.1bn to develop the wind power facilities.