Morocco shortens solar plant list to four

OUARZAZATE, MOROCCO - Morocco has preselected four out of 19 consortia that presented bids to develop the first phase of a 500 megawatt solar energy project south of the country, the agency managing the project Masen said.

Masen named the four pre-selected consortia as:

• Abeinsa ICI, Abengoa Solar, Mitsui and Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.

• Enel and ACS SCE

• International Company for Water and Power ACWA, Aries IS and TSK EE

• Orascom Construction Industries, Solar Millennium and Evonik Steag.

The pre-qualification process was to select independent power producers that would design, finance, build, operate and maintain a thermal solar plant in the southern city of Ouarzazate.

The 15 rejected consortia comprised among other firms GE Oil and Gas, Alstom Power, Mitsubishi Corp, SNC-Lavalin Inc., International Power, Lockheed Martin, JGC Corp, Daewoo Engineering and Nareva Holding, owned by a company in which the Moroccan royal family is the biggest shareholder.

Masen said it would send pre-qualified bidders requests for proposals toward the end of January 2011.

Plans call for the Ouarzazate unit to start off as a 125 megawatt unit and then undergo gradual upgrades to reach 500 MW before the end of 2015.