Acwa Power wins $2bn Moroccan solar deal

Second and third Noor phases will surpass Abu Dhabi’s Shams 1 project as largest concentrated solar power scheme in the region

A consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power International has been awarded the contract to develop the estimated $2bn Noor 2 and Noor 3 solar projects in Morocco.

The concentrated solar power (CSP) Noor 2 and 3 projects, which are part of the Ouarzazate solar complex in the southern-central region of the country, will have a combined total capacity of 350MW. Acwa Power was awarded the contract by the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) on 10 January.

MEED reported in October that Acwa Power was the low bidder for both projects. For the Noor 2 scheme, the Acwa Power team submitted the low tariff price of 16 cents a kilowatt hour (kWh). The consortium led by Spain’s Abengoa submitted a tariff price that was 10.5 per cent higher, while the UK/French GDF Suez Energy International submitted a tariff 24 per cent higher than Acwa Power’s price.

For the Noor 2 combined tariff, including Noor 3, Acwa Power submitted the lowest tariff, with a price of 15.7 cents a kWh. Abengoa submitted a proposal that was 11.9 per cent higher, while the GDF Suez consortium’s tariff was 23.6 per cent higher.

For the Noor 3 scheme, Abengoa submitted the low tariff of 16.7 cents a kWh. This was less than 2 per cent lower than Acwa Power’s tariff, with France’s EDF submitting the third-lowest tariff. EDF was only prequalified for the Noor 3 scheme and did not submit combined tariff prices for both projects.

For the Noor 3 combined tariff, Acwa Power was again the low bidder, with a submitted tariff of 16.3 cents a kWh, which was marginally less than Abengoa’s tariff and substantially lower than the price entered by the GDF Suez consortium.

Acwa Power is already developing the first phase of the Ouarzazate scheme. The firm was awarded the contract in late 2012 to develop the project under a contract tariff of 18.9 cents a kWh, the lowest ever tariff selected for CSP technology. The Acwa Power consortium signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the first phase, which will be worth an estimated total of $1.1bn over the period.