RABAT - Morocco's renewable energy agency Masen said on Monday six consortiums pre-qualified to build a 400-megawatt solar plant in the Atlas mountains, dubbed Noor Midelt II.

The six consortiums are led by Spain's Cobra Servicios, Communicaciones y Energia, France's EDF Renouvelables, Italy's Enel Green Power, Spain's Iberdrola Renovables International, Belgium's International Power and Saudi Arabia's Acwa Power.

The project consists in building a photovoltaic power plant with two-hour storage capacity.

A consortium led by EDF Renouvelables won in 2019 a tender to build a 800 MW solar power plant that was designed to combine both photovoltaic with concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies.

Four years later, the first phase is yet to be completed partly due to disagreements over CSP technology, sources say.

In 2022, renewables represented 18% of total electricity production in the country, while coal accounted for 72%, according to official figures.

By March 2023, renewable energy represented 40% of the country's installed capacity as Morocco plans to increase that share to 52% by 2030.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; editing by David Evans)