Morocco renews its energy sources

ACCIONA is to build and commission one of Africa's biggest solar thermal power stations in the Sahara. The facility will have 160MW maximum installed capacity and planned investment is over 500 million euros.

Morocco is committed to an intense economic modernization process with the goal of fostering growth in three sectors in which ACCIONA is leader: infrastructure, water treatment and renewable energies. The country has done its numbers and the conclusion is clear: it needs to reduce its energy dependency. Energy demand is growing at 6% per year. From 2011 to 2020, primary energy consumption is to double and electricity use will multiply threefold. The situation has led Morocco to set an ambitious but feasible objective: it wants to become the benchmark for renewable energy in North Africa.

By 2020, it is to install 2,000MW of clean energy, increasing the percentage of solar energy to 14% of the total, saving one million metric tons of oil equivalent (toe) in fuel and avoiding the emission of 3.7 million metric tons of CO2 per year. To meet this aim, Morocco is to create 50,000 jobs and mobilize investment worth 12.35 billion euros. With these shared objectives, ACCIONA has returned to the Alaouite kingdom in force. Indeed, ACCIONA Infrastructure has won, with partners, the biggest contract ever obtained by a Spanish company in Morocco - to build and put into operation Africa's largest solar thermal plant, in the Sahara.

ACCIONA Agua

In addition, Morocco's National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) has awarded an ACCIONA-led consortium- including EMT, a Moroccan company-the Design, Build and Commission contract for a 56 million euro drinking water plant with a capacity of 5 cubic meters/ day. The plant will be located in the municipality of Oum Azza, some 30km east of Rabat, and will strengthen the drinking water supply for a part of the country with the largest population growth, with a current population of five million inhabitants. Construction is expected to take 27 months to complete and the new plant will satisfy the region's water needs until the year 2030.

In figures

• Surface area: 446.550 km²
• Population: 32.000.000
• Unemployment rate: 8,1%
• Inflation: 2%
• GDP: 100,35 millones de dólares
• GDP per capita: 3.086 dólares
• Interest rate: 3%
• Language: Árabe, Bereber y Francés
• Currency: Dírham marroquí
• Exchange rate: 1 eur = 11.347 mad
• Political organization: Monarquía Constitucional
• Head of state: Mohamed VI de Marruecos
• President of government: Abdelilah Benkirán

ACCIONA in Morocco

ACCIONA is no newcomer to Morocco. ACCIONA Trasmediterranea ships and ferries connecting southern Spain with North Africa have long been a familiar sight for Morrocans. And the Company first arrived in the country back in the 1940s to carry out a number of iconic infrastructure projects, such as the extension of the wharf at Tangier port and the construction of the Mechra-Homadi dam and Smara airport at El-Aaiún. Since then, it has performed over 70 projects of all kinds in the country: port and hydro works, roads, airports, dams, a hospital, educational centers and industrial complexes. Among the most emblematic projects to have been carried out, the second runway at Tetouan stands out, alongside Al Wahda dam, the new container terminal at Casablanca port and the gas pipeline between Spain and Morocco.

Solar thermal complex

Continuing this successful collaboration, in 2012, the Moroccan Solar Energy Agency (Masen), a government body, chose the Saudi company Acwa Power, whose partners include the Spanish firms TSK and Aries, as Preferred Bidder for the development of the first phase of the Ouarzazate Solar Thermal Complex. The group of companies taking part in the project includes a 100%-Spanish consortium formed by ACCIONA, TSK and Sener, in the role of EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor. This consortium will be responsible for the building and commissioning of the power station. The Solar Thermal Complex is sited near the city of Ouarzazate, which lies at the feet of the Sahara Desert and Atlas Mountains. Its remote location will make use of magnificent solar and environmental conditions. The facility will have an installed capacity of 160MW and investment of over 500 million euros. The technology will consist of SENERtrough cylindrical-parabolic collectors and a molten salts storage system which allows electricity to be generated in the absence of solar radiation. The basic technology for solar collection at the plant is to be 100% Spanish solar radiation.