Taqa Gets Windy in Morocco

Taqa, or Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., is to acquire its first renewable energy assets through a deal which will see the company take a 50% stake in the Moroccan wind power subsidiary of the French renewable energy company Theolia.

The acquisition by Taqa is part of an agreement between the two companies to form a strategic partnership to develop renewable energy projects in Morocco. Under a MoU signed on June 10, the companies agreed to submit a joint bid to build and operate a 300-megawatt wind farm at Tarfaya, Morocco.

Peter Barker-Homek, the chief executive, described yesterday’s announcement as “a real milestone for Taqa.”

“It marks our first step into renewable energy,” he said.

The deal between Taqa and Theolia closely follows Taqa’s agreement last month with the Spanish electricity producer Iberdrola to pursue joint investments in electricity and oil projects in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and North America. That agreement also emphasized renewable energy, a new business for Taqa but one in which Iberdrola is already well established as the world’s biggest wind farm operator.

But the new alliance with Theolia seems set to move ahead faster. The French company, through its Moroccan subsidiary Compagnie Eolienne du Détroit (CED), already operates Morocco’s biggest existing wind development, the 200-megawatt Abdelkhalek Torres project near the northern city of Tetouanin.

“The site offers a double opportunity: the possible repowering of the 84 turbines commissioned in 2000 and the possible extension of the wind farm by several hundred additional megawatts,” Theolia and Taqa said.

The two companies are also eying the Tarfaya wind project. The Moroccan government has slotted the project to go private and has solicited bids for the wind farm.