The Moroccan company Platinum Power, whose main shareholder is the American Investment Fund Brookstone Partners, will launch a project for the construction of 3 private hydroelectric stations  in Morocco, in the Beni Mellal region, 200km north-east from Marrakech. It is an unprecedented project in the country, because so far all hydroelectric stations have been managed by the national authority ONEE. An amendment to the law on renewable energy, approved in 2015, allows private initiatives in the production of energy from renewable resources, in this case water. This regulation allowed the private project of Platinum Power to show its public utility. The project was published on the Moroccan Government gazette on 24 October. Platinum Power foresees a MAD 2.8 billion (over EUR 260 million) investment for the construction of three small hydroelectric stations: Boutferda (18 MW), Tillouguit Amont (8 MW) e Tillouguit Aval (30 MW), which will benefit from the water coming from the Atlas. The estimated annual production is 250 GWH. This project received an agreement for a waiver on its urban impact by the Regional Commission for Investments (CRI) of the Beni Mellal-Khenrifa Wilaya. It should create 480 jobs during the construction, and 80 additional jobs after the beginning of operations, date that is so far unknown. Platinum Power, specialized in the development, funding, construction and management of projects for energy production from renewables, operates also in Ivory Coast and Cameroon, and has a network that produces almost 2,500 MW in the hydroelectric, wind and solar energy secotors. Other Platinum Power shareholders are, in addition to Brookstone Partners, the German development bank KfW, the European Investment Bank, the French Agency for Development and Morocco (through the fund for the growth of SMEs). 

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews