Morocco Expands Green Energy with New 36 MW Wind Farm in Oualidia

Located on a 10-hectare site in the commune of Oualidia, Sidi Bennour province, the park which is owned by the French group InnoVent was commissioned on March 12 and produces through its first machine 3MW to reach 36 MW by July 2021 for the benefit of the distribution network of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE).

The Oualidia production site will reach its full capacity of 36 MW by the end of the first half of 2021 and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60,000 tons per year. Its annual production of 80 GWh will be marketed by the company STMicroelectronics from its Bouskoura site, one of the largest photovoltaic canopy installations in Morocco with 2,400 solar panels with a capacity of 647 kilowatt peak.

At a cost of around 300 million dirhams, the InnoVent Maroc project will have generated 300 jobs and consist of two sets of six wind turbines, one of which will be the tallest in Africa, reaching 202 meters at the blade tip.

"We are honored by the trust and ongoing support that the Kingdom of Morocco has shown us since the start of the project, through all its ministerial institutions, local authorities and ONEE. We are very pleased to be effectively participating in the country’s energy transition," says Driss Faouzi, head of InnoVent Maroc, adding that he believes in the Kingdom’s potential in renewable energy and that several other projects are under development by the French group in Morocco, encouraged by law 13-09.

The Oualidia park, according to the head of InnoVent Maroc, is specific in that the innovative tripod structure is raised on a mast in order to reach the peak in terms of wind speed and quality. "The foundation of a Nabralift requires only 80 m³ of concrete and 10 tons of steel compared to the 500 m³ of concrete and 60 tons of steel usually required for a conventional wind turbine," he noted.