Morocco’s National Office of Electricity & Drinking Water (Onee) is understood to have awarded a team comprising Beijing-headquartered China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC) and Japan’s Mitsubishi Power a contract to build an open-cycle 900MW thermal power plant in the country.

MEED previously reported that two teams had submitted proposals to build the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) project.

The contract awarded to the CEEC and Mitsubishi Power team is worth about MD5.9bn ($595m) and includes a five-year operation and maintenance agreement. 

The power generation plant will use dual-fuel gas turbines, with diesel fuel as a backup.

Work includes a 400-kilovolt (kV) substation. The power plant is located along the M18 station point of the Maghreb-to-Europe gas pipeline (MGE).

MEED previously reported that the following companies were qualified to bid for the contract:

• Abengoa (Spain)
• Ansaldo (Italy)
• Arab Contractors (Egypt)
• Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel, India)
• China Energy Engineering Group (CEEC)
• China National Electric Engineering (CNEEC)
• China Overseas Engineering Group  (Covec, China)
• Consolidated Contractors Company (Lebanon)
• Dongfang Electric (China)
• Duro Felguera (Spain)
• GE (US)
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan)
• Sepco 3 (China)
• Siemens Energy (Germany)
• TSK (Spain)

The power plant is expected to boost the Morocco electricity system’s flexibility as it expands its renewable energy installed capacity.

Morocco aims to source up to 52% of its energy from renewable sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45.5% by 2030.

In April 2022, the country awarded six contracts for the first phase of its Noor 2 solar photovoltaic (PV) power project.

It is the first set of renewable energy contracts that the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) and Morocco’s Energy Transition & Sustainable Development Ministry have awarded since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Earlier this year, Masen tendered a contract to develop the next phase of Morocco’s Noor Midelt solar independent power producer (IPP) programme.

The Noor Midelt 3 IPP scheme is expected to have a solar PV capacity of up to 400MW and a battery energy storage system capacity not exceeding 400 megawatt-hours (MWh). Bids are due in late November.