Morocco's giant concentrated solar field starts up

Noor I, the first stage of the mega solar project in Morocco, has become operational. When the next two stages, Noor 2 and 3, are completed and operational by 2020, the Ouarzazate solar power plant will generate a third of Morocco's power. The plant uses concentrating solar power (CSP), which allows energy to be stored at night or when it is cloudy. The solar mirrors heat up a liquid, which is mixed with water, to produce steam that drives a turbine to generate electricity. Currently Morocco imports fossil fuels to fulfil 97% of its energy needs; the solar plant will help diversify its energy mix and help reduce the country's carbon emissions before the next UN climate conference (COP22), which Morocco will host in November this year.  

The project, which cost nearly $2 billion, was originally envisioned as part of the Desertec plan to build similar plants across the Sahara and export the electricity to Europe. But it collapsed in 2013 when the major European backers pulled out. Noor I is the first of three phases under a plan to create a massive solar complex, supplying 580 megawatts of solar capacity, that could be the biggest in the world when completed. It’s part of Morocco’s ambition to generate 42 percent of its power from wind and solar energy by 2020.

Although 600 million people across Africa lack access to reliable electricity, the continent is becoming “a testing ground for cutting-edge solar power,” according to Quartz—mostly in the form of small, distributed systems that supply lighting and some electricity to individual households. A report from the Overseas Development Institute, in the United Kingdom, finds that small-scale solar could supply affordable power to most Africans by 2030, while reducing the use of dirty diesel generators across the continent.

Solar mirrors at the Noor 1 power plant, near the central Moroccan town of Ouarzazate.

(Sources: MAP, Quartz)