INAUGURATED in June 2018, the Khalladi wind farm, developed by ACWA Power in collaboration with ARIF investment fund, is located at Jbel Sendouq, 30 km from Tangiers and represents an investment of 1.7 billion dirhams ($170m).

This entirely privately funded investment was financed with equity from ACWA Power and ARIF, and with debt from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in collaboration with the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), and the Moroccan BMCE Bank of Africa (BMCE).

Entering a new phase in its development, ACWA Power Khalladi welcomes SAHAM Assurances a new institutional investor, who will hold 24% of the Capital and who will sit on the Board of Directors. With this new shareholder, ACWA Power confirms once more its long-term presence in Morocco by strengthening the effective participation of major institutional actors in its subsidiary company. ACWA Power continues to have a controlling stake of 51% and in charge of the operations and maintenance through its affiliate NOMAC.

The 120 MW Khalladi wind farm which is operational since 2018 supplies clean power to a number of large industrial companies in Morocco at competitive prices. The energy that the plant produces and supplies annually to industrial companies is equivalent to a yearly average consumption of a city of 400,000 people and will contribute to the reduction of more than 144,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

With renewable energy playing an important role in the overall development of Morocco, the Khalladi project will contribute to achieve the 2020 target of increasing renewables energy component of the energy mix to 42% and as part of this ambition to develop 2,000 MW of wind capacity all by 2020.

Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of ACWA Power, said: «Bringing SAHAM into this asset as a shareholder is very much within our commitment to share our investments with credible value adding local partners as we recognize the value of energizing the economic development of the countries in which we invest beyond only supplying reliable cost competitive electricity via such mechanisms which recirculate return on investment within the local economy»

Rajit Nanda, chief investment officer of ACWA Power said: “SAHAM adds to the institutionalization of the shareholding structure of our assets in Morocco. SAHAM entering into the Khalladi wind farm’s capital is also a confirmation of ACWA Power’s successful model for the development, financing, construction and long-term operations & maintenance of power generation and water desalination projects.” — SG