ONEE Invests 5.89 MMDH in the Al Wahda Plant

The electricity branch of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water is preparing to launch a gas power plant project in the province of Sidi Kacem, for an amount approaching $600 million (6 billion dirhams). The plant will be supplied via the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline.

It is a project estimated at about 6 billion dirhams (MMDH), that the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) is preparing to launch. It is the establishment of a combined cycle power plant OCGT (Combined Cycle Gas), consisting of two gas turbine units with a power of 450 MW each, in an open cycle, operating on natural gas. The power plant will be built on the site of AI Wahda, seven kilometers away from the eponymous dam, on the territory of the province of Sidi Kacem near the village of M’jara, 70 km from the city of Ouazzane.

The financing of this project will be provided in full by ONEE-BE (Electricity Branch) for an estimated total cost of $581,700 (5.89 MMDH). The latter is divided as follows: $529,000 (5.36 million dirhams) for construction and $52.9 million (536 million dirhams) for long-term maintenance, covering the first five years of operation. The public opening of bids will take place on July 11th. This project should be executed and completed within a maximum of 25 months after the start of construction.

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Description of the project

The project will be carried out under a turnkey contract. The contractor will be responsible for the design, procurement, construction, erection, testing, and commissioning of the plant. It should be noted that the gas turbines of the new AI Wahda OCGT plant will be of dual fuel type. They will use natural gas as the main fuel and diesel as a backup fuel, with the possibility of conversion to a cycle in the future.

ONEE explains that the use of backup fuel will only be used in the event of a natural gas supply disruption, for national grid security considerations, and during very limited operating hours. It is thus noted that “the maximum net power with diesel must not be below 80% of the maximum net power with natural gas.”

In addition, the energy produced by the plant will be evacuated to the national grid via 400 kV lines built for this purpose by ONEE-BE, while the new 400 kV station will be built by the contractor. In addition, each of the two gas turbines will have to be manually and automatically synchronized and coupled to a power level determined by ONEE-BE.

A telecommunication, remote signaling, and remote control system, compatible with dispatching, will be installed. “The plant will be designed to meet the needs expressed by the national grid in terms of flexible and resilient technologies for peak use,” said ONEE.

The supply will be via the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline

ONEE explains that the new gas turbine groups will be able to produce their maximum continuous power without time limitation, with maximum availability. On the other hand, the turbines can be subjected to rapid load variations and frequent start-ups and shutdowns without suffering any degradation of the material and equipment other than normal wear and tear.

The operating conditions and, in particular, the number of start-ups will be planned for at least the 20-year design life of the two turbine groups. Natural gas is the base fuel and will be delivered to the plant via the Maghreb Europe Pipeline (GME), located 0.4 km from the site. Diesel will be the backup fuel and will be stored on-site in tanks built for the needs of this project.

Respect for the environment

Within the framework of the implementation of this power plant, ONEE’s contractor must comply with the regulations in force relating to environmental protection as well as with the recommendations of the environmental impact study conducted by ONEE-BE.

In addition, it must implement an environmental and social management plan based on the environmental impact study carried out by ONEE-BE, and send a monthly report to the office throughout the construction period. It is also planned to establish a waste management procedure (sorting, storage, recycling, off-site disposal, etc.), particularly for hazardous products.

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(Featured image by Perkons via Pixabay)

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First published in LESECO.ma, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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