OUARZAZATE SOLAR STATION : MOROCCO TAKES A GREEN TURN


With its project to build a "giant" solar power plant in Ouarzazate, Morocco is intent on becoming the first to benefit from the Mediterranean Solar Plan, an offshoot of the Union for the Mediterranean project so dear to French president Nicolas Sarkozy's heart. With financial backing from international institutions, Rabat is clearly aiming to emerge as a key power supplier to the European Union. While a number of hurdles remain to be cleared, the kingdom can count on the unfailing support of Paris in this endeavour. An overview of two years of "green diplomacy" that combines eye-catching announcements with discreet deals between friends.


The matter of exporting energy

MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°980 - 14/07/2011
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Consortium could buy solar power
With a funding package for the construction of a solar power plant at Ouarzazate (MC 974) about to be cobbled together, Morocco’s solar energy agency MASEN is hoping to form a consortium to buy the future plant’s electricity. Maghreb Confidential understands the consortium would be made up of large European operators. (...)  [506 words]   [€8]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°974 - 02/06/2011
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Who’s to buy Ouarzazate’s power?
For want of funding, Morocco’s solar energy agency MASEN is taking its time in choosing a consortium to build the first section of the future 150 MW Ouarzazate solar power plant. (...)  [205 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°967 - 07/04/2011
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Enovos poised to join solar power play
The Enovos trading company could get a foot into the door in Morocco’s plan to provide “green power” to the EU. (...)  [190 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°965 - 24/03/2011
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Solar: Benkhadra seeks clarification
How will Morocco make money from its solar energy plan? With a tender about to be issued “at any moment” for the construction of the solar power plant at Ouarzazate, energy minister Amina Benkhadra is seeking to clarify the conditions in which solar energy can be exported to Europe, according to our sources. (...)  [180 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°918 - 18/03/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Rabat's Solar Plan Wins French Friends
French businessmen are already showing a keen interest in Morocco’s solar energy plan. In Paris on March 8-9 to present her investment program to her French counter-part, Jean-Louis Borloo, Morocco’s energy minister Amina Benkhadra, quickly won over a group of French businessmen who sat in at the meeting. (...)  [241 words]   [€5]


Green diplomacy and behind-the-scenes deals

MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°990 - 20/10/2011
COMPANIES
USTDA
USTDA (United States Trade and Development Agency) has issued a call for bids to choose a firm to assist Morocco's solar energy agency MASEM in conducting initial technical studies on the construction of the second section of the Ouarzazate solar power plant. (...)  [85 words]   [€1,5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°986 - 22/09/2011
COMPANIES
MASEN
MASEN, Morocco's solar energy agency run by Mustapha Bakkoury, spies the light at the end of the tunnel. (...)  [159 words]   [€1,5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°970 - 28/04/2011
BUSINESSMEN
Philippe Lorec
Head of the energy and climate department at France’s ecology ministry, Philippe Lorec, will attend the Power Morocco 2011 conference in Casablanca between June 6-9. (...)  [94 words]   [€1,5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°954 - 06/01/2011
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Bakkouri gives the nod to Spanish
Although relations between Madrid and Rabat remain chilly (MC 950), Mustapha Bakkoury, head of the Agence Solaire Marocaine (MASEN), offered a welcome Christmas gift to Spain’s solar energy industry. (...)  [219 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°951 - 09/12/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Spanish in Solar Push Despite Chill
Despite a fresh deterioration in relations between Rabat and Madrid, Rocio Estevez, secretary-general of the Camara Espanola de Comercio Tanger, quietly went ahead with a second Moroccan-Spanish seminar on renewable energy in Tangiers between Dec. (...)  [211 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°947 - 11/11/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Obama Rescues Lockheed's Solar Bid
Did the White House lend the American solar energy industry a hand in Morocco? Several sources claim that it intervened to give an American consortium a second chance when candidates were chosen to build the solar power plant at Ouarzazate. (...)  [178 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°933 - 08/07/2010
POWER BROKERS
Rabat Gives Transgreen Launch a Miss
Rabat played the sleeping beauty during a ceremony inaugurating the Transgreen consortium at the Roquelaure hotel in Paris on July 5. (...)  [207 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°923 - 22/04/2010
DIPLOMACY
Jean-Louis Borloo
Jean-Louis Borloo, the French Energy and Environment minister, was due in Rabat on April 22 to take part in “Earth Day. (...)  [84 words]   [€1,5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°919 - 25/03/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
French Leg-Up for Solar Plan
Will the Elysee Palace in Paris have a big say in the fate of Morocco’s solar plan? The unit in the French president’s residence that deals with the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM) is scouting for commercial outlets in Europe for Morocco’s future solar electricity. (...)  [193 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°910 - 21/01/2010
POWER BROKERS
Mining Engineers Back Solar Plan
A blue-ribbon project of the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM) so dear to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, the Mediterranean Solar Plan has won unqualified backing from graduates of the elite engineering university, the Ecole des Mines de Paris. (...)  [205 words]   [€5]


The difficult choice of contractors

MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°952 - 16/12/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Bakkoury’s Moment of Doubt on Ouarzazate
The Agence Solaire Marocaine (MASEN) seems to be a little overwhelmed by the industry’s enthusiasm for its project to build a giant, 500 MW solar power plant at Ouarzazate. The scheme, which Mohamed VI and his personal private secretary Mounir Majidi are closely monitoring, will be the first in Morocco’s projected USD 9 billion investment program and propel the kingdom into the era of green electricity. (...)  [522 words]   [€8]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°952 - 16/12/2010
COMPANIES
GTZ
GTZ, the German overseas development agency, is backing the offensive of German companies in solar energy in Morocco. (...)  [93 words]   [€1,5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°937 - 02/09/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
SolarReserve & Veolia in Ouarzazate Tie
The project for a 500 MW solar power station at Quarzazate has given rise to a transatlantic alliance. Indeed, Maghreb Confidential understand that France’s Veolia has exchanged vows with the U. (...)  [176 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°916 - 04/03/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Solar Energy: Scramble for Ouarzazate
The race is on to build the big, 500 MW solar power station at Ourzazate. No less than nine companies are in the running for a contract to design the facility that will be the blue ribbon project of Morocco’s Solar Plan (MC 909). (...)  [222 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°909 - 14/01/2010
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Solar Energy: a Push at Ouarzazate
Energy minister Amina Benkhadra is pulling out all the stops to launch Moroccan’s solar energy plan, even if means throwing the agenda out of kilter. (...)  [225 words]   [€5]


The boom in solar power

MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°993 - 10/11/2011
BUSINESS CIRCLES
ADB sweetens Rabat’s wind power pot
With Europeans wooing the MASEN agency in the hope of taking part in Morocco’s solar energy program (MC 986), the Office National d’Electricite (ONE) won’t have to be holding out the begging bowl. (...)  [167 words]   FREE
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°968 - 14/04/2011
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Solar energy: Bakkoury seeks funding
There’s lots of sun in Morocco but few ideas on how to finance the Plan Solaire Marocain. The Agence Marocaine pour l’Energie Solaire (MASEN) run by Mustapha Bakkoury, is finding it hard to put together finance for the country’s ambitious program to be generating 2 GW of “green” energy by 2020. (...)  [240 words]   [€5]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°905 - 10/12/2009
BUSINESS CIRCLES
A True Power Play in the Sun
What will be the Copenhagen summit’s impact on the southern banks of the Mediterranean? Manufacturers of solar power plants can hardly contain their excitement. As Maghreb Confidential anticipated (MC 887), the North African countries are among the first in line to win from the bonanza generated by interest in renewable energy. (...)  [622 words]   [€8]
MAGHREB CONFIDENTIAL n°887 - 09/07/2009
BUSINESS CIRCLES
Green Energy a EUR 45 Billion Market
North Africa could well be a winner in the huge power market slowly taking shape in the European Union. The overarching aim is to see that European Union member countries abide by their energy consumption quotas (renewable energy must account for 20% of the total in 2020) by importing electricity from third countries, as they've had the right to do since a "climate and energy" directive was adopted. (...)  [579 words]   [€8]



Morocco | solar energy | Ouarzazate | Plan solaire marocain | Mediterranean Solar Plan
PSM | Mustapha Bakkoury | Agence pour l'energie solaire | Masen | GW | green energy


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