OCP Green Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of OCP Group, has brought three photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 202 megawatts peak into operation at Benguerir, Foum Tizi and Oulad Fares, marking the first operational step of the group solar program under its green investment plan for the period from 2023 to 2027 and its target of using only renewable electricity by 2027 and reaching carbon neutrality in 2040.
The tranche, announced in Khouribga at the start of December, includes a 105 megawatt peak unit at Oulad Fares that sector outlets describe as the largest photovoltaic plant currently in operation in Morocco, alongside a 67 megawatt peak site at Benguerir and a 30 megawatt peak site at Foum Tizi.
The plants already cover a significant share of the electricity demand of mining sites and supply OCP Green Water desalination facilities and strategic industrial units through the electricity self production regime, using grid access conditions set by the National Electricity Regulatory Authority and connection agreements with the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water.
The first phase represents an investment of about one point eight billion dirhams, structured through an engineering procurement and construction management model that mobilised local engineering and construction firms.
The cost of power from the new capacity is estimated at about 368 dirhams per megawatt hour, which OCP presents as giving it a competitive electricity price for fertiliser production with a lower carbon footprint.
On the financing side, the solar program is supported by a green loan of one hundred million euro from the International Finance Corporation agreed in 2023 for plants at Benguerir and Khouribga, with the German development bank KfW and the Clean Technology Fund, managed by the African Development Bank, later joining the package to back storage components and the wider thirteen billion dollar green investment program.
In parallel, OCP Green Energy has launched the first phase of a battery energy storage system at Benguerir based on lithium iron phosphate technology, with a planned capacity of 25 megawatts and 125 megawatt hours and a start of operation in 2026, designed to shift daytime solar output into evening peaks and to strengthen flexibility and stability of the grid serving OCP industrial sites.
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