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Morocco's Solar Power Mega-Project (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Morocco, located along the northwestern African coast, is in prime position to take advantage of solar technology, and they've committed to one of the biggest such projects in the world. The city of Ouarzazate will host "a complex of four linked solar mega-plants that, alongside hydro and wind, will help provide nearly half of Morocco's electricity from renewables by 2020." It will be the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world. "The mirror technology it uses is less widespread and more expensive than the photovoltaic panels that are now familiar on roofs the world over, but it will have the advantage of being able to continue producing power even after the sun goes down." The first phase of the project, called Noor 1, comprises 500,000 solar mirrors that track the sun throughout the day, with a maximum capacity of 160MW. When the full project finishes, it will be able to generate up to 580MW. "Each parabolic mirror is 12 meters high and focused on a steel pipeline carrying a 'heat transfer solution' (HTF) that is warmed to 393C as it snakes along the trough before coiling into a heat engine. There, it is mixed with water to create steam that turns energy-generating turbines."
It's Morocco, not UK. They ideally situated for solar plants like that.
The http://www.theguardian.com/env... has a link to
"Morocco: Works on World’s Largest Solar Plant Financed by AfDB Go Underway"
http://www.afdb.org/en/news-an...
breaking down the different phase funding AC.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Re 'tried and true solar panels" work during the day. The idea is to try and work around that night time traditional big battery storage issue with a 'heat tank containing molten sands that can store heat energy for three hours, allowing the plant to power homes into the night."
The main issues seems to be to try and get away from the "We import 94% of our energy as fossil fuels from abroad and that has big consequences for our state budget".
The cost of another fossil fuel project, the related imports and hard currency exchange should be interesting to see over the project.
The cost of batteries might have to still be reduced to become viable for big grid storage in different parts of the world. Another option is "demand response" and discounted tariffs to try and ensure people use energy during the day vs traditional demand peaks.
ie reshape midday power prices.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I'm guessing you meant 2011 instead of 2001. There have been bombings in 2003, 2007 and 2011. So yes they do have a terrorism problem but it is less that what has occurred in the US or the UK for example.
As for your friend, my condolences.
Ouarzazate is on the outer reaches of the Sahara. In fact, Morocco barely contains any Sahara at all, that's over on the Algerian side.
The desert around Ouarzazate is mostly rocky, and it takes several hours in a 4x4 to get to the sandy Sahara people are familiar with.