Noor Midelt Solar project: Masdar

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Project ID 50421

Status Cancelled

Location

Morocco

Business Sector

Energy

Notice Type

Private

Project ID 50421

Status Cancelled

Location

Morocco

Business Sector

Energy

Notice Type

Private

Environmental Category

Approval Date

04 Nov 2020

Disclosure date

14 Aug 2019

As per section 1.4.2 (iii) of the Directive on Access to Information: "For Projects approved by Bank management where the Board of Directors has delegated the approval authority, the PSD shall be disclosed at the start of the relevant no-objection notification period to a member country of the Bank in accordance with Article 13 (iii) of the Agreement Establishing the EBRD."

Translated version of this PSD: Arabic | French

Project Description

Provision of a multi-currency loan to finance the construction and operation of a hybrid solar plant combining photovoltaic (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP) and thermal and battery storage technologies with 800 MW of installed capacity and 5 hours of energy storage, located in the region of Midelt, Eastern Morocco (the Project).

Project Objectives

Noor Midelt is one of the first projects in the world to address both the intermittency of solar energy and the affordability of thermal energy storage through hybrid PV / CSP technology. It will contribute to climate mitigation by increasing the share of renewable energy generation in Morocco and add 800 MW of solar generation capacity to the national energy system.

It will generate electricity using solar energy throughout the day and during the evening peak load at a tariff that is competitive with conventional generation.

Transition Impact

The transition impact arises from supporting a highly innovative technological solution delivering climate mitigation benefits through the construction of 800MW of additional renewable energy generation capacity in Morocco (Green quality). The Project is expected to reduce annually the emission of more than 572,000 tonnes of CO2.

Furthermore, alongside this Project, the Bank is deploying a technical assistance to draft the country's first grid code, which would provide transparent information to private producers regarding grid access. The Project will be in line with the Bank's Green Economy Transition approach (GET).

Client Information

The Borrower is a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Morocco for the sole purpose of developing, constructing and operating the Project. The Borrower is ultimately 75% owned by the consortium of EDF EN 35%, Masdar 30%, and Green of Africa 10%, and 25% by MASEN, the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy.

Loan guarantor: Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC - Masdar (Masdar)

Masdar is a global leader in renewable energy and sustainable urban development. It was established in 2006 as a strategic government initiative to invest, incubate and establish new energy industry in Abu Dhabi and around the world. Masdar is fully owned by Mubadala Investment Company, an investment company established and fully owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi.

EBRD Finance Summary

Up to EUR 45,000,000

Total Project Cost

EUR 740,000,000

Environmental and Social Summary

Categorised B (ESP 2014). The construction of a large hybrid solar CSP/PV plant is expected to provide substantial environmental and social (E&S) improvements and benefits to the country linked to green and sustainable power generation and job creation. The E&S risks and impacts associated with the Project are likely to be readily identified, assessed and mitigated based on an Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD) and appropriate Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP). The investment is part of a larger project and associated infrastructure, which will need to be considered. The Project is consistent with the GET approach, and the GET share is expected to be 100%.

A Framework Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (FESIA) has been prepared for the Noor Midelt Project on behalf of MASEN and to fulfil the requirements of MASEN's IFI financiers, which include inter alia, the KfW, EIB, World Bank and AFD. The FESIA has been developed to international standards in a participatory manner and is available online on the Masen website since July 2017. ESD has reviewed the FESIA and supporting documents as part of the initial IESE categorisation at the CRM stage, and confirmed the B categorisation of the Project: the impacts related to the Project (particularly water intake, labour influx, and land acquisition) have already been assessed, and appropriate mitigation measures have been identified and are imposed on MASEN which will in turn ensure their implementation by the winning bidder.

The project developers are required to develop specific ESIAs taking into account of the exact technology used and the share of CSP and PV. But, aspects related to water intake, access roads, land titles, labour sourcing, have all been defined at the MASEN level and the developers are obliged to comply with them. External consultants will be retained to undertake a detailed E&S Due Diligence of the Project and assess its compliance with EBRD's Performance Requirements, as well as the requirements defined by the FESIA study. ESDD is likely to focus on E&S management systems, occupational and community health and safety, contractors' management, land acquisition and resettlement, labour sourcing, and stakeholder engagement. The documents to be disclosed will include: Non-Technical Summary and a Stakeholder Engagement Plan.

Technical Cooperation

EUR 295,000 Policy dialogue TC funded by the Bank's Shareholder Special Fund ("SSF") in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Sustainable Development of Morocco for the preparation of an electricity grid code.

Company Contact Information

Mohammed Alshehhi / Abrar Umer

malshehhi@masdar.ae / aumer@masdar.ae

+971 2 653 3333

+971 2 653 0002

http://www.masdar.ae

PO Box 54115, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Transition impact

ETI Score:100

PSD last updated

07 Nov 2019

Business opportunities

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Public Information Policy (PIP)

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Text of the PIP

Environmental and Social Documentation is not available for this project.

Selected procurement notices related to this project may be shown below. Further procurement opportunities related to this and other projects, if available, maybe be viewed in the EBRD Procurement Portal.

The EBRD's Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), Access to Information policy (AIP) and Project Accountability Policy (PAP) enable sound and sustainable development in its projects. The Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) deals with complaints about environmental, social and disclosure matters related to the Bank’s investments.

No complaints about this project have been made so far.

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