Masen commences construction of €500m solar project in Morocco

The Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen) has commenced the construction of first phase of €500m concentrated solar power (CSP) project in the country.

The project is being developed by a consortium led by the Saudi developer ACWA Power, after acquiring the contract to build the plant in September 2012. The consortium also includes engineering and technology group Sener and Spanish companies TSK and Aries.

Construction of the 160MW Ouarzazate concentrated project is expected to be continued for next 28 months.

Meanwhile, the developers are said to be using SENERtrough technology, designed by Sener, and energy storage system that uses molten salt to generate electricity in the absence of solar radiation.

With this project, Sener has associated with 25 concentrated solar power plants with a combined capacity of 1,500MWe across Spain, USA and India.