BUTEC Lands Major Contract to Build Casablanca’s Landmark Waste-to-Energy Plant

CASABLANCA, Morocco — Casablanca is preparing to turn millions of tonnes of non-recyclable waste into electricity, and BUTEC has secured a major role in delivering the infrastructure behind the ambitious project.

The engineering and construction company has been awarded a major Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract by a consortium comprising Nareva, Kanadevia Inova and Itochu Corporation for the development of a large-scale waste-to-energy facility in Casablanca.

The project is being developed under a 33.5-year concession agreement between the consortium and the Municipality of Casablanca, making it one of Morocco’s most significant investments in sustainable waste management.

Nareva, a Casablanca-based energy company and subsidiary of Al Mada, has a portfolio spanning wind, solar and thermal power generation. Kanadevia Inova, formerly Hitachi Zosen Inova, is a Swiss specialist in waste-to-energy and renewable gas technologies and a subsidiary of Japan’s Kanadevia Corporation. Itochu Corporation is a Japanese trading and investment company.

For the project, BUTEC is partnering with Kanadevia Inova, combining its engineering and construction capabilities with the Swiss company’s expertise in incineration and energy recovery technology.

A project built for scale

The facility will be constructed northwest of the Mediouna landfill in the Casablanca-Settat region and will be designed to process approximately 1.5 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste every year.

That scale could significantly reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill while converting material that would otherwise have little economic value into electricity.

The plant is expected to generate 126 megawatts of baseload electricity and prevent up to one tonne of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions for every tonne of waste processed.

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More than 4.2 million people across Greater Casablanca are expected to benefit from the facility, placing the project at the centre of the region’s efforts to modernise waste management and move towards a more circular economy.

It also fits into Morocco’s broader drive to reduce emissions, diversify its energy sources and strengthen energy security.

Waste-to-energy projects have increasingly been adopted by major cities seeking to reduce dependence on landfill while recovering energy from waste. Similar large-scale developments have emerged elsewhere in the region, including in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

Who does what?

The EPC contract divides responsibilities between BUTEC and Kanadevia Inova.

Kanadevia Inova will be responsible for the project’s technology and process components, as well as operational support, long-term maintenance and financing of the facility.

BUTEC’s responsibilities will cover the civil works for the entire facility, together with the engineering, procurement and construction of the non-process buildings and supporting infrastructure.

Its scope includes civil, structural and architectural works, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, as well as the external infrastructure needed to support the plant.

The arrangement brings together BUTEC’s construction and multidisciplinary engineering capabilities with Kanadevia Inova’s specialist waste-to-energy technology.

BUTEC sees strategic opportunity

For BUTEC, the contract represents more than another major construction award. It strengthens the company’s position in a sector that is becoming increasingly important as governments confront rising waste volumes and pressure to reduce emissions.

Raymond Daou, Senior Vice President for Strategy and Business Development, said the project builds on the group’s established presence in Morocco.

“Building on our affiliates’ long-standing presence in Morocco, where BUTEC has established itself as one of the country’s leading players in Electromechanical Solutions, the Group is reinforcing, through this landmark contract, its contribution to the Kingdom’s sustainable development ambitions,” he said.

Daou said the award also strengthens BUTEC’s growing position in the waste-to-energy market.

“With three consecutive large-scale Waste-to-Energy projects across the geographies in which it operates, BUTEC is establishing itself as the generalist EPC contractor of choice in this strategic sector,” he said.

He added:

“This latest award confirms once again our ability to combine multidisciplinary engineering expertise, strong local execution capabilities and close cooperation with world-leading process technology partners to deliver complex energy and environmental facilities.”

A shift in Morocco’s waste strategy

Morocco has spent the past decade strengthening its waste management infrastructure, including efforts to capture landfill gas, reduce methane emissions and generate electricity for municipalities.

The Casablanca facility represents a significant shift in scale and technology.

Rather than focusing primarily on capturing gas from existing landfill sites, the project will use incineration and energy recovery to address non-recyclable municipal waste while producing electricity.

That combination reflects a wider regional trend in which waste management, energy generation and decarbonisation are increasingly being tackled as part of the same infrastructure strategy.

For Casablanca, the project offers a way to tackle two pressing challenges at once: reducing the amount of waste going to landfill and adding a new source of reliable electricity to the region’s energy mix.

For BUTEC, meanwhile, the contract provides another high-profile opportunity to demonstrate its ability to deliver complex infrastructure at the intersection of engineering, energy and environmental management.