Environment & Energy

eridani

(51,907 posts) Sun Dec 20, 2015, 08:34 AM Dec 2015

Way to go, Morocco! A solar mega-plant to deliver electricity to half the country's population.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/17/1461055/-Now-THAT-S-how-you-do-solar-energy

The current winner in the renewable energy push has to be the country of Morocco, which is building a solar energy plant that will leave every other effort in the dust. Or maybe we should say, in the dark.

Right now, Morocco imports 94 to 97 percent of its energy from fossil fuels, yet it gets 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. All of that desert sunshine is about to reverse the energy-importing trend, turning the country into a leading world source of solar energy.

Morocco is in the process of building a complex of four linked solar mega-plants as big as 35 soccer fields. According to a story from the Guardian, the huge effort will, alongside with hydro and wind, “help provide nearly half of Morocco’s electricity from renewables by 2020.”
It’s hoping to export any excess solar energy to other countries, especially those in Europe.“The project is a key plank in Morocco’s ambitions to use its untapped deserts to become a global solar superpower,” the Guardian story says. It will be the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the world.

The first phase of the project, called Noor 1, is due to open this month and will bring energy to 1.1 million people. The method of capturing solar energy, as described by EcoWatch, is more expensive and goes a lot further than most solar technology, such as photovoltaic cells. “The plant employs a large number of movable mirrors that can follow the sun’s path and harness sunlight to melt salt,” the EcoWatch story says. “The molten salt stores energy and can be used to power a steam turbine, allowing for energy production even at night.”