Morocco says it is awarding a $500 million contract to build a solar power plant to a Saudi-led consortium.
Mustafa Bakkouri of the Moroccan Solar Energy Agency said Monday that the consortium, led by Saudi International Company for Water and Power together with the Spanish Aries IS and TSK EE, would build a 160 megawatt solar power plant in the southern Moroccan town of Ouarzazate.
In 2009, Morocco announced a $9 billion project to build five solar plants to harness the sun's rays and produce 2,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020 — 38 percent of its energy needs.
Four consortiums were competing for the bid. The Saudi consortium's proposed plant would produce one kilowatt of energy for $0.19, as opposed to $0.24 offered by two of the other competitors.