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Related: About this forumWay 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-energyThe 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 Moroccos electricity from renewables by 2020.
Its hoping to export any excess solar energy to other countries, especially those in Europe.The project is a key plank in Moroccos 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 suns 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.
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Way to go, Morocco! A solar mega-plant to deliver electricity to half the country's population. (Original Post)
eridani
Dec 2015
OP
dumbcat
(2,120 posts)1. Not much interest in this, it seems
I think it is a wonderful project. The CSP plant is good, but I like the idea of developing long distance submarine HVDC cables even better.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)2. There are a surprising number of them planned around Europe
even to take power from Scotland to England, which could be done overland.
http://www.4coffshore.com/windfarms/interconnectors.aspx
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)3. Kicking