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Europe, Middle East & North Africa
The Saharan Sun: A Powerful Source
A scorching sun hangs overhead, boosting summer temperatures to 40° C (104° F) or more. Making it the basis of a feasible power project is now the task of IFC and our partners, as we advise the Moroccan government on the initial phase of an ambitious 2,000 megawatt plan for solar energy.
National solar agency MASEN named IFC its financial adviser in developing the first power plant to be built in Ouarzazate. The goal is to have 500 megawatts installed by 2015 at a cost of approximately $3.5 billion. Private investors will be asked to submit proposals for the initial phase of at least 150 megawatts by early 2011, with a public bid award expected in the second half of that year.
However defined, it will be one of the largest solar plants ever built, selling power in the domestic market first, and later perhaps to Europe as well. Such projects are now growing in number: in June 2010, Abu Dhabi authorities named Spain's Abengoa Solar and French oil company Total their partners in a new, approximately $700 million, 100 megawatt solar plant called Shams-1, due to open in 2012. The consortium will build, own, and operate the power plant using concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, collecting sunlight in 768 parabolic troughs.
The Morocco project will also use CSP systems. But large-scale commercial financing is far less available in emerging economies than in oil-rich Gulf locales. So our task is not just to structure the project. IFC and the World Bank will help mobilize concessional financing from development institutions so the Ouarzazate project can sell affordable power to its final consumers without major government subsidies, while also providing private developers a viable business proposition. A tough challenge, but a good one for IFC.
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