Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, also known as Taqa, says that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jorf Lasfar Energy Company signed financing arrangements for US$1.4 billion of 16 year non-recourse project financing during June 2012. This will go to the 700 MW expansion of Taqa’s Jorf Lasfar coal-fired power complex in Morocco.
BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Standard Chartered Bank are the mandated lead arrangers for the international debt facilities, while Morocco’s Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) is the mandated lead arranger for the Moroccan Dirham credit facilities, representing about 40% of the total debt. Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) and Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) will provide direct loans and loan guarantees for more than 50% of the total project debt. This is the first time the Japanese and Korean export credit agencies have participated in a project finance transaction in Morocco.
Jorf Lasfar is the largest coal-fired power complex in the Middle East and North Africa region and the first independent power producer (IPP) in Morocco. The expansion is a key infrastructure project for Morocco’s energy strategy intended to enable Office National de l’Electricité (ONE) to increase the country’s installed electricity generation capacity. The 700 MW expansion will bring Jorf Lasfar’s gross capacity to 2,056 MW.
The expansion units 5 and 6 are scheduled to be commissioned in December 2013 and April 2014 respectively. The EPC contract for the expansion was awarded to Mitsui & Co of Japan and Daewoo Engineering & Construction of Korea in 2010. The expansion is expected to generate 3,000 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs during construction. In the long term, the new units are expected to provide 135 jobs while providing indirect employment to 1,000 people.
