ACWA Power closes $2 billion financing on 500MW of Morocco CSP projects

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

A consortium led by Saudi Arabian power engineering firm ACWA Power, including Spanish technology company Sener, has achieved financial close of the 200MW NOORo II and 150MW NOORo III concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in Morocco.

The projects, worth US$2 billion, constitute the second phase of the NOORo Solar Complex in Ouarzazate, which will be the largest solar power complex in the world, it has been claimed.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The complex is set to hold 2GW of solar power, equivalent to 14% of Morocco’s installed generation capacity by 2020.

NOORo II uses a parabolic trough with 7.2 hours molten salt storage. NOORo III uses a central tower with eight hours' molten salt storage.

ACWA Power submitted technical proposals in March 2014 and financial offers in September 2014 in an international tender. It was selected as preferred bidder on 9 January 2015 having delivered the lowest bid.

ACWA Power signed 25-year Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) for both projects on 10 March.

Masen will hold 25% of the equity in both projects. Sener will also be an equity investor in NOORo II.

A consortium including Sener and global engineering corporation Sepco III will construct the projects, which are expected to be in commercial operation during the second half of 2017.

The First National Operation & Maintenance Company (NOMAC), a fully owned subsidiary of ACWA Power, and Masen will undertake the operations and maintenance of the plants.

The projects’ debt will be entirely financed by Masen along with lending funds secured from the African Development Bank, the Agence Française de Développement, the Clean Technology Fund, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and the World Bank.

Rajit Nanda, chief investment officer of ACWA Power, said: “It is to the credit of MASEN and the various counterparties that we could achieve the financial close of these complex transactions in a record time. The projects are a testament to the changing paradigm in the industry, and go a long way to again demonstrate that thermal solar technologies have their own place along with fossil fuel technologies and can deliver equal if not higher reliable and long term value to countries and developers.”

Read Next

May 30, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Aquila Clean Energy has started construction on a 52MW agrivoltaics (agriPV) project in Italy.
May 30, 2025
The US added 7.4GW of new renewable energy capacity in the first three months of 2025, with deployments and planned projects concentrated in Republican-voting states.
May 30, 2025
Solar and wind curtailment have increased by 29% between 2023 and 2024 in California, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
May 30, 2025
Companies delayed or cancelled US$14 billion in investments in clean energy projects in the US in the first four months of this year.
May 30, 2025
Waaree Solar Americas – a subsidiary of Indian solar manufacturer Waaree Energies – has signed a 586MW solar module supply agreement with an undisclosed independent power producer (IPP).
May 30, 2025
Spanish independent power producer (IPP) has unveiled two new solar-plus-storage projects, one in Central Chile and the other in Spain.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
June 17, 2025
Napa, USA
Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 8, 2025
Asia