Morocco’s $2 Billion Noor Midelt I Solar Plant Faces Major Setbacks

The construction of the Noor Midelt I power plant, with a capacity of 800 MW and a value of $2 billion, which was supposed to come into service this year, has not even started yet after the Ministry of Energy and the grid operator ONEE rejected the proposed CSP technology, according to three sources close to the project. In 2019, a consortium led by EDF Renewables (France) had won the international tender for the design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the project. One of the requirements is to equip the plant with photovoltaic (PV) technology, which is cheaper but has little energy storage capacity, as well as CSP, which is more expensive but continues to feed the grid for hours after nightfall.

However, after the contract was awarded, ONEE and the Ministry of Energy stated that they would only agree to buy the electricity if MASEN (Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy) abandoned the CSP for photovoltaics or switched from thermal energy storage to salt to batteries, according to the same sources. MASEN and the grid will eventually sign a power purchase agreement. Currently, discussions are still ongoing between MASEN and the development consortium on the technological specifications. For its part, the Ministry of Energy stated that it "tries to be as technology-agnostic as possible" as long as the cost, sustainability and security objectives are maintained to avoid excessive risks, without addressing the issues at Noor Midelt.

The implementation of the Noor Midelt I project follows the realization of the mega-plant of Noor Ouarzazate (580 MW of installed solar power, mixing thermodynamic solar (CSP) and photovoltaic) which encountered technological problems that interrupted all production of a 150 MW plant for a year from the summer of 2021. According to ONEE, these problems have led MASEN to change the technology at Noor Midelt. "Noor Ouarzazate has helped put Morocco on the world map of large-scale renewable energy projects. But looking closer, in terms of operating costs and maintenance issues, the plant is rather a handicap," said a source close to Noor Midelt I. Another estimates: "In retrospect, Ouarzazate served as a testing ground for an immature CSP technology."