A consortium of EDF Renewables, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and Green of Africa has emerged as the winner of a tender for the design, financing, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Noor Midelt Phase 1 multi-technologies solar power project.

The project, consisting of concentrated solar power and photovoltaic (PV) technology, will have a size of 800 MW and claims to be the world’s first advanced hybridization of concentrated solar power and PV technologies.

The project was allocated at a record-low tariff at peak hours of 0.68 Moroccan dirhams ($0.070)/kWh.

The project is located 20 kilometers from a town called Midelt in Central Morocco. The construction of the project is slated to start towards the end of 2019, and it is expected to commence delivery of electricity to the grid in 2022.

“Masdar is honored to leverage its global expertise and experience in CSP and PV technologies as part of the consortium chosen to develop the Noor Midelt Phase 1 multi-technologies solar power plant,” said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar.

This would be the third project that EDF Renewables and Masdar will be working on together. EDF Renewables is also a partner in Shua’a Energy 2, the joint venture led by Dubai Electricity Water Authority (DEWA) developing the 800 MW third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, the first 200 MW stage of which was inaugurated in April 2018.

The two companies are also partners in the recently announced Dumat Al Jandal wind farm, which at 400 MW will be Saudi Arabia’s first and the MENA region’s largest wind energy project.

“We applaud Morocco’s bold renewable energy vision and its commitment to the large-scale development of a ground-breaking technology combining solar power with storage, which will achieve new levels of cost and operational efficiency. This project marks a key step in the transition of renewable energy from its traditional peak-shaving role in meeting power demand to becoming a baseload electricity provider in the future,” Al Ramahi added.

“EDF Renewables is proud to be part of a consortium which will significantly contribute to the Kingdom of Morocco’s visionary objectives to produce 52% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030,” said Bruno Bensasson, Chief Executive Officer of EDF Renewables.

In February 2019, DEWA issued a request for qualification for the development of 900 MW of solar PV projects located within the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, about 50 km south of the city of Dubai.

In April 2019, Mercom reported about renewable energy project developer, AMEA, closing the financing for a 50 MW solar project in Jordan. The company announced that it secured $74 million for the Al Husainiyah project with assistance from the Dutch development bank, FMO.