Renewables Now
The 580-MW Noor Ouarzazate solar complex in Morocco will be fully operational in October, Mustapha Bakkoury, managing director of the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen), has announced.
Bakkoury presented the commissioning schedule for the huge project last week at a working session devoted on the progress of Masen-led renewable energy projects in Morocco. Phase II, a parabolic troughs complex with a capacity of about 200 MW, and phase IV, a 70-MW solar photovoltaic (PV) park, will be commissioned this month. The 150-MW phase III solar thermal tower plant will be up and running in October.
The first phase of the scheme, a parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) park of 160 MW, was switched on in February 2016.
Apart from commissioning phases II, III and IV at Noor Ouarzazate, this year Masen is also expected to complete the technical and financial evaluations of the offers for the Noor Midelt, Noor Tafilalet and Noor PV 2 projects.
Bakkoury noted that by the end of this year Morocco will have 887 MW of operational solar power capacity, 1,207 MW of wind power and more than 1,700 MW of hydro power plants. The African country aims to produce 42% of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020 and 52% by 2030.
