BusinessGreen staff | BusinessGreen
New memorandum of understanding designed to help accelerate development of North African solar farms
The Moroccan government has this week signed a new memorandum of understanding with the Desertec Foundation, strengthening plans to build a series of solar farms in the North African country capable of transmitting power to Europe.
The Moroccan Agency for the Development of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ADEREE) yesterday signed the new alliance with the German-based Desertec Foundation, confirming the two bodies will work together to share technical expertise and develop an effective policy framework for the ambitious project.
The partnership should help accelerate Desertec’s plans to construct a series of giant solar farms in North African countries that would both provide clean electricity to their domestic markets and be able to sell excess power to European countries via proposed high voltage direct current transmission lines.
It will also further cement Morocco’s position as one of the leading renewable energy markets in Africa, building on the government’s commitment to generate over 40 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
The country is already undertaking construction workon the giant 500MW Ouarzazate concentrated solar power plant, which could eventually feed into the proposed Desertec network.
“Morocco is a not just a visionary in the region but also a successful pioneer in the global transition to renewables, where ADEREE plays a key role,” said director of the Desertec Foundation, Dr Thiemo Gropp, in a statement. “We are very happy to support their work in this context.”
The new agreement represents a boost to Desertec after engineering giant Siemens confirmed it was to leave the group following the announcement of plans to sell its solar business, and reports suggested theAlgerian government had decided to postpone a final decision on its plans for the new Sonelgaz Desertec Renewable Energy Program until next year.
Tags: Desertec , Solar thermal , Solar pv
Categories: Solar
