Saudi-Led Group Signs $1 Billion Solar-Power Deal With Morocco

A group led by Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power International signed a $1 billion deal to supply Morocco with electricity from the North African nation’s first solar- thermal power plant.

The government of Morocco will purchase power for 25 years from the 160-megawatt plant ACWA is developing with Spain’s Aries Ingenieria & Sistemas SA and TSK Electronica & Electricidad SA in Ouarzazate for Morocco’s Solar Energy Agency.

The Riyadh-based ACWA said it selected Spain’s Acciona SA (ANA) and Sener Grupo de Ingenieria SA to design and build the project in September. The plants use mirrors that concentrate sunlight to generate steam and power turbines. The plant will capture 470,000 tons a year of carbon dioxide emission, it said.

ACWA said it intends to sign a project-financing agreement by the end of the year and start operating the plant in the second half of 2015.

To contact the reporters on this story: Wael Mahdi in Manama at wmahdi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net