World’s largest solar energy plant opens in Morocco
Noor 1 is expected to provide 160 megawatts of power to 650, 000 local citizens with “solar electricity from dawn until three hours after sunset,” writes The Guardian.
Noor II and Noor III, the next two grids, will be built by its estimated completion date in 2018 to help the North African country provide 580 megawatts of power to 1.1 million people as well as achieve its goal of generating 42 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
The project will have an important impact in other areas as well. CNN cites a statistic by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) that says this plant will raise the share of renewable energy in total electricity generation from 13 to 42 percent.
Financially, the Verge notes Morocco’s plant will save the country millions in tons of carbon emissions while reducing the country’s dependence on imports for 97 percent of its energy consumption.
Climate Investment Funds (CIF) provided $435 million of the $9 billion total project funding. Its manager Mafalda Duarte deemed it a highly significant venture in Africa.
“Morocco is showing real leadership and bringing the cost of the technology down in the process,” Duarte said.
The North African nation, which will host the next United Nations climate change conference in November, aims to generate 42 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. It even more ambitious plan in the pipeline is to obtain 52 percent from renewable sources by 2030.
The energy from the solar plant will not only serve local demand but will also be eventually exported to Europe as well as Mecca.
While we’re sitting in a small country down the southern end of the globe, we here at SKySolar think similar ambitions should be held for NZ’s energy supply goals, with large scale projects like this helping to raise awareness and bring the cost of technology down.
NZ’s largest solar plant to date is a whopping 68kW. We’re looking forward to seeing larger scale installations happen soon.
