Morocco to beat South Africa as it builds Africa’s tallest wind turbine

All is set for Morocco to construct the tallest wind tower in Africa measuring 144 meters high. The tower being built by Spanish technology giant, Nabrawind, features a lightweight piled-in foundation which will support a 3.6MW Siemens Gamesa turbines with a hub height of 144 meres.

“This tower allows the installation of a full wind turbine – tower, nacelle, rotor – without using large-size cranes regardless of the final hub-height. The Self-Erecting System (SES) is conceived to install the lowermost sections of the tower in the last part of the assembly process. For this purpose, the SES is able to hoist the WTG in intermediate stages and install tower sections under it,” said the company.

With work expected to begin this summer, construction of the tower will use 800m3 of concrete and 10 tonnes of steel. This is different from the  500m3 of concrete and 60 tonnes of steel used by ‘gravitational design’. Installation of the logistics will begin at the end of this year and the beginning of next year.

South Africa currently has the continents tallest wind turbine of 115 metres installed by Siemens Gamesa. The world record remains the 178-metre tower in Germany.

With this technology, Morocco is on track to become a world leader in renewable energies. Currently, it is importing about 90% of its fuel needs and spends 10-12% of its gross domestic product on energy imports. 

It plans to generate 42% of its energy from renewables by 2020, more of which will come from solar, wind and hydropower. The country has set a targeted program which seeks to increase the contribution of renewable energies in the national energy mix to 52 pc in 2030.