OUARZAZATE, Morocco (AP) – Morocco’s King Mohammed VI unveiled one of the world’s biggest solar plants Thursday, taking advantage of the Sahara sunshine and a growing global push for renewable energy.
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Noor III is an installed capacity of 150 MW which will employ central tower technology with salt receivers and 7 to 8 hours of energy storage capability and will require a budget of 645 million euros.
ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, 04 February 2016 / PRN Africa / – Morocco has launched the first phase of the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the world.
The remaining two stages of the project are expected to be completed by 2017.
It is supposed to allow Morocco to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 240,000 tons per year.
The first portion of North Africa’s largest PV installation was successfully connected to the grid in Morocco, Bloomberg reports.
“With this bold step toward a clean energy future, Morocco is pioneering a greener development and developing a cutting edge solar technology”, said Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, World Bank Country Director for the Maghreb.
ACWA Power Ouarzazate, a consortium of ACWA Power, the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (Masen), Aries and TSK, is responsible for the development of the project on a build, own, operate and transfer basis.
The delegation noted that EU supported Noor I through a “coherent and decisive” intervention from European investors, including the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (AFD) and the German Development Bank (KFW).
It will help the country reach its goal of producing 42% of power from renewable sources by 2020 and 52% by 2030.
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The plant is similar to large-scale plants located in the Mohave Desert in the U.S. Solar thermal power plants capture the sun’s energy as heat, then convert water into steam and turn turbines. The 2016 Climate Performance Index ranked Morocco among the top ten countries making the most progress in addressing climate change and number one among “newly industrialized countries”, citing the country as one that shows “the potential of developing countries to move forward”.
