Isofotón will set up 1215 photovoltaic installations integrated into the grid system in Morocco

• The Development Aid Fund (FAD) has approved a loan to carry out the project.
• It will be the first project in the Chourouk Programme and will enable the overall design of integration into the grid system in Morocco to be defined.

MADRID, 15 JANUARY 2009. After a public tender, Isofotón, a company that is leader in the photovoltaic sector in Spain, has been awarded the contract to set up 1215 photovoltaic installations that will be integrated into the grid in the cities of Errachidia and Ben Guerir in Morocco.

This pilot project, called Chourouk ONE, is set within the framework of an initiative by ONE - Office National d’Électricité - (Morocco’s National Electricity Company) to develop solar systems in urban areas and has the financial support of Spain. The funding was agreed by the Spanish Council of Ministers through a FAD loan.

Isofotón will be responsible for the supply and installation of photovoltaic systems of between 500 and 1,000 kW, ultimately installing a total power of 724,000 W. The Spanish company will install 1,000 systems in the city of Errachidia, 200 systems in the city of Ben Guerir and another 15 systems in ONE agencies in the following provinces: Agadir, Ben Slimane, El Kelaa des Sraghnas, Errachidia, Essaouira, Guemim, Khemisset, Laayoune, Ouarzazate, Rommani, Oujda, Settat, Ouled Nemaa, Tata and Tiznit.

This is a pioneering initiative in the north of Africa, and will include an innovative element by bringing together the electricity operator, private individuals and the supplier-installer in a scheme of public-private partnership. Through this project, private individuals who install photovoltaic systems in their homes will be able to deduct a part of the photovoltaic energy production from their electricity bill as the material used is the property of ONE that rents the available space on the roof.

In total, the ONE programme plans 200,000 systems integrated into the grid system, as well as the creation of three solar power plants of 100, 10 and 3MW. The first 1215 systems will be set up by Isofotón, the company that also installed the first pilot project of integration into the grid system in Morocco, on the roof of the Regional Directorate of ONE in Casablanca.