Morocco’s Office National de l’Electricite et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) has received technical bids for the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) contract to develop five wind farms with a total capacity of 850MW.

The five prequalified groups submitted technical proposals on 5 August. Following bid evaluation, the client will shortlist groups to submit a commercial tariff proposal for the scheme.

The groups that submitted technical bids are:

• Acciona Wind Power (Spain), Acciona Energia (Spain) and Al-Ajial Funds (Morocco)
• EDF Energies Nouvelles (France), Mitsui & Co (Japan) and Alstom (France)
• Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia), Gamesa Eolica (Spain) and Gamesa Energia (Spain)
• Nareva Holding (Morocco), Taqa (UAE), Enel Green Power (Italy) and Siemens (Germany)
• IP – GDF Suez Group (UK/France) and Vestas (Denmark)

HSBC is the financial adviser for the project.

The five wind farms will be built at the following locations:

• Tanger II (Tangier): 150MW
• Midelt (Midelt): 100MW
• Jbel Lahdid (Essaouira): 200MW
• Tiskrad (Laayoune): 300MW
• Boujdour (Boujdour): 100MW

The estimated cost of the construction is $2.1bn. ONEE has received approval of some of the finance required from the European Investment Bank (EIB), German KfW banking group, the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (IVF), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF).

The 850MW project is the second phase of Morocco’s Integrated Programme for Wind Energy, launched in 2010. The first phase comprises a 150MW wind farm at Taza.

Morocco 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.