GE announced it will supply 56 1.7-100 wind turbines to a wind farm in North Africa developed by Energie Eolienne du Maroc (EEM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nareva Holding.
The 100 MW wind farm will be located near Akhfennir in southern Morocco.
GE’s 1.7-100 wind turbines will help Morocco meet the country’s renewable energy goals, while offering EEM enhanced economic returns, GE said.
Morocco government’s Integrated Wind Energy Project aims to generate 2000 MW of wind power by 2020 through an investment of Moroccan Dirhams 31.5 billion. With this, the country aims to increase wind’s portion of the national energy mix to over 14 percent by 2020.
The partnership with GE will help boost this initiative, EEM said.
“This agreement highlights our commitment to Morocco’s wind energy development,” said GE’s chairman and chief executive officer Jeff Immelt. “Building on our power generation heritage of over 100 years, our wind turbine technology is a strong fit to help Morocco meet its wind power goal and support the country’s industrialization.”
GE’s 1.7-100 wind turbines are built on an evolution of high performance turbines in order to generate competitive economic returns and capacity factor.
GE’s global fleet of more than 23,000 wind turbines provides more than 37 gigawatts (GW) of installed wind energy capacity, and operates with over 98 percent availability.
The power generated by the plant is intended to support industrial companies under Morocco’s Power Purchase Agreement, thus further stimulating the economy by creating new jobs and supporting the local supply chain.
Akhfennir is one of the wind farms in the first phase of the Moroccan Integrated Wind Energy project to produce over 720 MW.
Five new sites are being planned to utilize Morocco’s strong potential in wind power, estimated at 25,000 MW. Morocco’s Renewable Energy Law (No.13-09) supports energy production from renewable resources.