In Arabic, the world “noor” means light, so each phase of development on the plant follows plans named Noor 1 through 4 as the four solar parks complete construction and link to form a consolidated plant. Combined with the country’s wind and hydro power efforts, Morocco’s ambitious solar push will mean the country will source close to 50% of its electricity from renewable generation as early as 2020. The first phase, Noor 1, involves the installation of more than 500,000 mirrors arranged in 800 rows to track the sun as it passes across the desert sky each day.
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Speaking about the potential for solar power from the desert, German particle physicist, Gerhard Knies after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 had said that the world’s deserts receive nearly enough energy within a few hours to provide for humanity’s power needs for a whole year.
The mirrors are connected to a steel pipeline where a “heat transfer solution” made up of a synthetic thermal oil is warmed to 739 degrees Farenheit and makes its way to a heat engine where it mixes with water creating steam to power energy-generating turbines.
Noor 2 and 3 are scheduled to begin in 2017.
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The capacity of Noor 1 is 160 MW, which is about a third of the total capacity of the mega solar plant, which is expected to generate the whooping 580 MW of electricity in just five years from now. This amount translates into the energy needs of half of the country. The huge plant will be spread across an area within the Sahara desert, which equals in size the country’s capital city of Rabat. “We import 94pc of our energy as fossil fuels from overseas and that has big consequences for our state budget”, Morocco’s environment minister, Hakima el-Haite, told the Guardian. The goals that the current government has set are known to formulate the most advanced renewable energy programme in the Middle East and North Africa.
