Africa’s Biggest Windfarm Debuts in Morocco  

Inhabitat has a post on a new Moroccan wind farm - Africa’s Biggest Windfarm Debuts in Morocco.

The first phase of a massive renewable energy plan is now in place in Morocco with the official opening of a 165 turbine wind farm just outside of Tangiers. Official sources say that the wind farm — located in the town of Melloussa — is the largest on the African continent. The wind farm was inaugurated today by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and is estimated to have cost about $250 million dollars to install. The final project — which includes solar, wind and hydraulic power — will supply Morocco with 42% of their total power needs.

In total the 165 turbines will supply Morocco with about 140 megawatts of power. The new farm in Melloussa will join another smaller wind farm in northern Morocco that has a 54 megawatt capacity. Morocco’s Minister of Energy and Mining, Yamsmina Benkhadra said that the project would be completed in 2020 and is part of a national mission to, “assure our energy security and a sustainable development.” The project’s final cost will be $3 billion.

This project is being built concurrently with the Desertec initiative, which is populating a portion of the Saharan desert with solar panels in order to supply energy to Europe. Looks like the sands of Africa are heating up the energy world as of late.