Ain Beni Mathar Integrated Thermo Solar Combined Cycle Power Plant 1.98

The Ain Beni Mathar Integrated Thermo Solar Combined Cycle Power Plant is a integrated solar combined cycle power generation plant in northeastern Morocco. It is located in the commune of Ain Bni Mathar within Jerada Province, in the Oriental Region.Construction began in March 2008 and the facility was commissioned in 2011.DescriptionThe plant site, which has a total area of 160ha, is characterized by a very large solar field, covering about 88ha. The total capacity of the plant is 472 MWe of which up to 20 MWe may be delivered from solar energy, and can generate an average annual energy production of about 3,538 GW·h. The plant uses natural gas 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, ($554 million), the project was funded by the African Development Bank (AfBD), the Official Credit Institute of Spain (ICO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through a grant of $43.2 million, with the balance being provided by L'Office National de l'Électricité (ONE).SpecificationsThe plant consists of two 150.28 Mwe Alstom GT13E gas turbines fueled by natural gas, a 172 Mwe Alstom DKYZ2-1N41B steam turbine, a 183,200m2 collector surface solar parabolic trough 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.