The solar thermal complex will be located near the city of Ouarzazate, on the edge of the Sahara Desert and at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. This remote location makes the best use of the solar and environmental conditions. The facility will have an installed capacity of 160 MW and will require an investment of approximately €500 million. The technology will consist of SENERtrough parabolic trough collectors, and a molten-salt thermal storage system that makes it possible to generate electricity in the absence of solar radiation. The basic technology for the plant's solar capture will be 100% Spanish.

The construction and commissioning of the plant will take 28 months. The experience of the EPC consortium, both in solar thermal plants and in international electricity generation facilities, will ensure the success of the project.

ACCIONA has a long track record of complex construction projects, with contract structures including many stakeholders, working in multicultural contexts. ACCIONA is a giant in the field of development, construction and operation of solar and renewable facilities. The technology of this plant in particular, parabolic trough collectors (CSP), is very familiar to ACCIONA, as it has developed facilities using the same technology both in Spain and abroad, and both operated by ACCIONA itself and by third parties.

The fact that it was selected as a preferential bid grants the bidding consortium the right to negotiate financing for the plant with Masen and a group of international financial institutions led by the World Bank, which will supply a large part of the capital as debt. Acwa Power will manage the project finance, having received the approval and the commitment to purchase energy at a fixed rate for 25 years from the Government of Morocco. This process is expected to last about five months, at the end of which the construction can start.

General Information

  • Location: Ouarzazate, Morocco
  • Contract type: EPC (engineering, procurement and construction), design, engineering, supply, construction, commissioning, operational testing and commissioning of the plant
  • Year of project completion: 2015