Morocco Gets $519 Million World Bank Loan for Solar Power Project

Morocco has secured a $519 million loan from the World Bank to partly finance two solar power plants with a combined capacity of up to 350 megawatts (MW), the second phase of the 500 MW Ouarzazate project, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

[This project is the world’s biggest solar thermal power project.  When it’s done, it will cover 2500 hectares and generate five hundred Megawatts of peak power.]

Results of tenders for construction of the two plants near the southern city of Ouarzazate, one of at least 200 MW and the other of at least 100 MW, are expected in the next few days, sources close to the deal said.
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Morocco is spending heavily to subsidize power production.  It currently imports power from Spain, with demand growing by around 7 percent year.

Banking sources have told Reuters the cost to build the two plants is estimated at 1.7 billion euros ($2.1 billion).
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The authority has chosen parabolic mirror technology for the 200 MW concentrated solar plant at an estimated cost of 1 billion euros, while the 100 MW plant, expected to cost 700 million euros, will be built as a solar power tower.

Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power is already building the first 160 MW plant in the Ouarzazate area under a government initiative to produce 2 gigawatts of solar power by 2020, which is equivalent to about 38 percent of Morocco's current installed generation capacity.

Morocco Gets $519 Million World Bank Loan for Solar Power Project