The Ain Beni Mathar Integrated Thermo Solar Combined Cycle Power Plant (also known as ISCC Ain Beni Mathar or Aïn Beni Mathar ISCC) is an

integrated solar combined cycle A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

power generation plant in northeastern

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. It is located in the commune of Ain Bni Mathar within

Jerada Province Jerada (Arabic: جرادة, Berber: Ijṛaden) is a province in the Oriental Region of Morocco. Its population in 2004 was 105,840. The major cities and towns are: * Ain Bni Mathar * Jerada * Oued Heimer * Sidi Boubker * Touissit Subdivisions ...

, in the Oriental Region. Construction began in March 2008 and the facility was commissioned in 2011.

Description

The plant site, which has a total area of , is characterized by a very large solar field, covering about . The total capacity of the plant is 472 MW_e of which up to 20 MW_e may be delivered from solar energy, and can generate an average annual energy production of about 3,538

GW·h A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bi ...

. The plant uses

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

as fuel. It is connected via a 12.6 km long pipe to the Maghreb-Europe (GME) pipeline. With a total cost of 4.6 billion

dirhams The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass. Unit of mass The dirham was a un ...

, ($554 million), the project was funded by the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...

(AfBD), the Official Credit Institute of Spain (ICO) and the

Global Environment Facility The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a multilateral environmental fund that provides grants and blended finance for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants (PO ...

(GEF) through a grant of $43.2 million, with the balance being provided by L'Office National de l'Électricité (ONE).Integrated Solar Energy Generation Project
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Specifications

The plant consists of two 150.28 Mwe Alstom GT13E gas turbines fueled by natural gas, a 172 Mwe Alstom DKYZ2-1N41B steam turbine, a collector surface solar

parabolic trough A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal collector that is straight in one dimension and curved as a parabola in the other two, lined with a polished metal mirror. The sunlight which enters the mirror parallel to its plane of symmetry is foc ...

field, a solar heat exchanger, and two heat recovery exchangers (recovery boilers), one for each gas turbine. The recovery boiler recovers the gas turbine waste heat. The solar energy collected at the parabolic troughs can increase the flow of steam produced in the recovery boilers. The steam produced in the two recovery boilers is expanded in the three body steam turbine (High, Medium and Low Pressure). The solar radiation can contribute to up to 20 Mwe of the power plant output. It is understood that the solar field does not increase the total power, but simply lowers the specific consumption (from 6912.5 kJ/kW·h, at full power, to 6588.8 kJ/kW·h at full solar power). The energy produced is transferred to the interconnection of Oujda and Bourdim via three 225 kV lines. Condenser cooling is via an air condenser, and a water consumption of 850,000 m3/year. The Combined Cycle component has a 93% availability factor and the Solar Field has a 95% availability factor. Specific consumption of the GT13E gas turbine is 10080 kJ/kW·h. Solar field input temperature is , output temperature is . One collector is 150 m long and 5.7 m wide.

References

{{Reflist Natural gas-fired power stations in Morocco Solar power stations in Morocco Buildings and structures in Oriental (Morocco) Jerada Province Energy infrastructure completed in 2011 2011 establishments in Morocco 21st-century architecture in Morocco

Description

Specifications

See also

References