Rockin' the casbah

Munich-based Siemens Power Generation (PG) recently finished building the 384-MW combined-cycle Tahaddart Power Plant in the city of the same name in Morocco (Figure 2). The turnkey project, which is about 20 miles south of Tangier, was completed in 25 months. The plant’s natural gas fuel comes through a new, 8-mile-long spur that connects to the Maghreb-Europe Pipeline.
 

 
2. Morocco’s newest plant. The new 384-MW combined-cycle Tahaddart Power Plant near Tangier was completed by Siemens Power Generation in only 25 months.
Courtesy: Siemens Power Generation

For the project, Siemens PG supplied an SGT5-4000F gas turbine, an SST5-3000 steam turbine, an SGen5-2000H generator, all plant electrical systems, and a Teleperm XP instrumentation and control system. The company has agreed to handle O&M of the plant for the next 20 years. After trials are completed, Tahaddart Power Plant will go on-line next month. Once it does, it will provide nearly 17% of Morocco’s electricity supply and make a significant contribution to meeting the country’s growing demand for energy.

A new company, Energie Electrique de Tahaddart S.A. of Tangier, was founded specifically for this project. In addition to the state-owned Moroccan electric utility, shareholders include the Office Nationale de l’Electricité, the Spanish utility Endesa S.A., and Siemens Project Ventures GmbH.

On hand to celebrate the plant’s opening on January 19 were Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco, and Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain. Tahaddart is Siemens’ first combined-cycle power plant in Morocco and one of the first projects spawned by the opening of the country’s electricity sector to foreign investors. Valued at about $550 million, it also represents one of the largest single investments in Morocco to date.