Africa’s largest wind farm in Morocco has started generating electricity and is expected to become fully operational by October this year
Tarfaya, developed by Moroccan firm Nareva Holding and France’s GDF Suez, will supply the state utility l’Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable under a 20-year power-purchase agreement.
Installed on 10,000ha along the wind-blown southern Atlantic coast, the 131 turbines will produce up to 300MW of electricity, the company said.
The North African country has no hydrocarbon reserves of its own and hopes to cover 42 per cent of its energy needs with renewable sources by 2020, according to AFP.
It has also launched a plan to produce 4,000MW from wind and solar power.
Mohammed Sebti, director of the Nareva Energy, said, “Work started in Tarfaya at the beginning of 2013, and 88 of the 131 turbines have now been erected.”
He added that production will continue to rise, with its full commissioning to be completed in October 2015 as planned.
Built at a cost of US$690mn, the wind farm will be the continent’s biggest, surpassing Ethiopia’s Ashegoda project, with its 84 turbines and 120MW capacity.
