RABAT: Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power International said it has awarded the construction of its solar power plant in Morocco’s southern city of Ouarzazate to a Spanish consortium comprising Acciona SA, Sener and TSK.

The Saudi power group’s contract to build the 160 MW plant is part of a plan to produce 500 MW of solar power each year in Ouarzazate, the first step in a Moroccan government plan to produce 2GW of solar energy each year by 2020.

Acwa won the $1 billion contract to build the 160 MW plant in the North African kingdom in September, having priced its offer at 1.62 dirhams ($ 0.19) per kilowatt/hour.

No financial details for Acwa’s subcontract to the Spanish firms were disclosed.

Acwa said the plant should start production in the second half of 2015.

The Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy is choosing bidders for another solar facility at Ouarzazate with a capacity of 300 MW, as the deadline to submit expressions of interest was March 25. The tender is expected by June.

Morocco, which has said it will subsidize the cost of producing solar electricity, plans to export surplus electricity to Europe to plug the trade deficit.