The owner of one of Africa’s oldest wind farms has secured financing to repower the facility to double capacity to 100MW.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is co-financing the repowering of the Koudia Al Baida wind farm in the north of Morocco, by providing a senior loan of up to €44m to the Koudia Al Baida Energy Company.
The company is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (MASEN) and EDF Renewables.
The EBRD loan is part of a senior debt provided by a group of international and Moroccan banks: Société Générale, Attijariwafa Bank, Banque Centrale Populaire and Bank of Africa.
EBRD will also provide a €5m loan, while the Climate Investment Funds’ (CIF) Climate Technology Fund (CTF) will provide a €4.5m loan to MASEN to finance its equity contribution to the project SPV.
Through this investment, Koudia Al Baida will repower the existing 50MW wind farm located in the Tlat Taghramt region near Tangier and increase its capacity to 100 MW.
Koudia Al Baida wind farm is one of the oldest utility-scale wind farms in Africa and Morocco’s first renewable independent power producer.
It will also be the first wind-repowering project in Africa and for EBRD.
EBRD’s Sustainable Infrastructure Group Managing Director, Nandita Parshad, said: “The EBRD is very proud to support MASEN and EDF Renewables in the repowering of the Koudia Al Baida wind farm.
“This project demonstrates the long-term opportunity for renewables to play an important role in the decarbonisation and increased competitiveness of Morocco’s economy.
“We at the EBRD are very pleased to be actively contributing to the scaling up of Morocco’s renewables together with MASEN, the Office National de l’Electricité, électrification rurale (ONEE) and all the key stakeholders.”