Morocco solar programme adds 225MWp across four NOOR Atlas plants due in 2027

MASEN has commissioned Eiffage Énergie Systèmes to design, build and operate sites in the northeast of the country, the largest at Ain Beni Mathar. Construction began early this year with handover expected by the middle of next, and a seven-year operations and maintenance term attached to the contract.

At Ain Beni Mathar in northeastern Morocco, work is under way on a 121MWp photovoltaic plant, the largest of four being built under the country’s NOOR Atlas programme. Construction started early in 2026.

The other three sites are NOOR Enjil at 42MWp, NOOR Boundnib at 33MWp and NOOR Bouanane at 29MWp. Combined installed capacity across the portfolio is 225MWp, and all four are scheduled for commissioning and handover to the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy by the middle of 2027.

Eiffage Énergie Systèmes holds the contract on a turnkey basis, covering design, equipment supply, civil and electrical construction, installation, commissioning and connection into the national grid. Seven years of operations and maintenance follow completion. The company reported revenue of €8.1 billion in 2025 and says it has built more than 130 photovoltaic plants worldwide.

MASEN supervises the programme, which is aimed at reducing Morocco’s dependence on imported fuel, adding generation capacity and building out a domestic solar supply chain rather than importing the whole of it.

The integrated model, with construction and long-term maintenance held by the same contractor, has become the standard shape for large solar infrastructure across North Africa. It transfers performance risk to the builder for long enough to matter.

Morocco is assembling two things at once. NOOR Atlas expands what the country generates for itself, while the African Atlantic Gas Pipeline, whose intergovernmental agreement was signed by ECOWAS heads of state on 19 July, would make it the landing point for Nigerian gas heading into the European network.