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| Fig. 1: Noor I and II - Ouarzazate Solar Station in Morocco (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
In the coming decades, climate change is expected to alter the lives of billions of people all around the world. While no country is immune to its effects, developing nations will likely be the most vulnerable; this is, in large part, due to their reliance on natural resources and a lack of infrastructure to manage a constantly varying climate. Despite their minimal greenhouse gas emissions on a per capita basis, at least in comparison to developed nations, global warming is rapidly pushing the most impoverished, powerless communities to respond. [1] That is why some low and middle-income countries have started the process of building the facilities for solar, hydro, wind, and biomass energy: renewables that release almost negligible amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In this way, nations can combat climate change more effectively and lower energy costs. This is particularly crucial given the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has led to a 33% increase in crude oil prices since January 2022, and is currently crippling poor energy-importing countries. [2]
Morocco is a developing country in Western Africa that has a rapidly growing renewable energy program. The solar energy sector in this country us particularly important, specifically the recent Noor Power Station development shown in Fig. 1.
In 2009, Morocco designed and implemented an ambitious plan to have 42% of its power capacity come from renewable sources within a decade. [3] While it ultimately failed to reach its target by a margin of 5%, significant advancements have been made in solar energy as a result. Thus, currently, this type of clean energy plays an integral role for the country, and is expected to become an increasingly important source of renewable energy in future years. Solar energy currently represents roughly 7% of Morocco's total energy production capacity at 831 MW, with plans in place to increase this number to 20% by 2030. [4]
Morocco's aggressive goals in this sector are largely a reflection of the country's growing energy demand, which is expected to increase by 250% from 2015 to 2030. [3] Due to national economic growth, a wealthier population, and an energy-intensive industrial sector, this African nation has been forced to pursue an energy plan that prioritizes self-sufficiency and inexpensiveness. Given these previous facts and the country's proximity to the Sahara Desert, which gives them over 3,000 hours of sunshine annually with an average solar irradiation of more than 5 kWh/m2 per day, it is clear why solar energy has been one of the leading candidates in Morocco's progressive energy reform. [4]
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| Fig. 2: Graph Representing the Total Cost of a Noor-Sized (510 MW) Project vs the Capacity Factor for Various Types of Renewables, using data from IRENA. [10] (Source: B. Felix) |
In 2018, the final phase of the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station was completed; this US $2.5 billion facility, most commonly referred to as the Noor Power Station, is the world's largest concentrated solar power plant at 510 MW, containing thousands of curved mirrors over an area of 3,000 hectares. [5] While Morocco has also implemented a number of smaller-scale solar energy initiatives - thereby improving access to electricity in rural areas to almost 100% - the focus of the country has been on megaprojects such as the Noor Power Station. [4] Given its capacity of 510 MW, it represents 61% of the total 831 MW of solar power installed in Morocco, and slightly over 4% of the total capacity in the country. [6] Hence, in order to replace the country's current power capacity, roughly 23 additional identical facilities would be required; assuming that the price of production per unit is equal and ignoring the effect of inflation, this would come out to a total investment of US $59.2 billion. Back in 2009, the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment projected that US $30 billion of investment would be required to produce 10,100 MW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. [3] Yet, this figure severely underestimates the true cost of investment if we use the Noor plant as a baseline, as the total for the desired number of megawatts would come out to US $49.5 billion.
However, there are a couple of key points that must be considered. Firstly, concentrated solar power, as was used in the Noor plant, is more expensive than solar photovoltaics. Thus, it is entirely possible that using regular solar photovoltaics or other types of renewable energy would bring the total cost down, aligning more closely with the government's prediction. Nevertheless, the more crucial point, which is often disregarded, is the distinction between energy production capacity and actual energy generation - where the latter is more important, for obvious reasons. In 2020, approximately 38,837 GWh were generated in Morocco, of which 7,062 GWh were from renewable sources. [6] Although clean energy represents 37% of their power capacity, only 18% of power was generated by renewable sources. The Noor plant addresses this issue, though, as its molten salt storage system increases the source's capacity factor, allowing energy demand to be met at night and excess electricity to be sold. [3] In fact, Noor I has a full-power storage capacity of three hours, while Noor II and III can each store thermal energy for up to seven hours before being transformed to electricity for final use - providing a capacity factor of around 90%. [7] While other sources of renewable energy, primarily wind and solar PV, can transform energy at cheaper rates, their dependence on nature and inability to store excess energy make them less appealing as a baseload form of power. Therefore, balancing reliability, cost, and production capabilities is crucial. A succinct analysis of various different types of renewable energies, including their cost and capacity factor, is provided in Fig. 2.
A thought that must be in one's mind after discussing megaprojects as a means of revolutionizing the energy sector in Morocco is the role of money; hence, it is only natural to question where the government gets the necessary funding for such large-scale renewable energy developments. The answer to this, in short, is foreign investment. The African Development Bank, the World Bank, the Clean Technology Fund of the Climate Investment Funds, the German KFW Development Bank, the French Development Agency, the European Investment Bank, the European Union, and MASEN have been the primary investors for the Noor solar plant. [8] Evidently, various European countries and financial institutions have granted Morocco the opportunity to pave the way in renewable energy innovation, primarily through loans and investments, but in the case of the European Union, even donations.
One may speculate about their reasons for doing so, but it likely boils down to their history and political relations, geographical location, and ultimately the potential benefits for European countries. Current laws in Morocco, specifically Law 13-09, sets the groundwork for an open electricity market, permitting renewable energy generators to develop transmission lines and export electricity. [3] Presently, Morocco is the only African country to have a power cable link to Europe that connects it to Spain. However, there are more plans in place to connect Morocco to the European continent, such as an 18 billion project to link the UK to an enormous wind and solar farm in the Sahara. [9] Hence, it is entirely possible that European countries are investing in Morocco as a means of setting themselves up for success in the field of renewable energy production.
From the information above, one can see that the Noor solar plant is a unique and innovative feat; apart from satisfying a significant portion of Morocco's daily electricity demands, it has also given us a glimpse of the role that CSP will likely play in our fight against climate change one day. Although the costs of production are still relatively high, as can be seen in Fig. 2, the technology's ability to store and later transport energy makes it highly appealing for the government, as well as European nations that hope to connect their grid systems to Morocco's clean energy sources. The solar energy sector in Morocco has indeed shown significant improvements over the past decade or so; yet, to satisfy their renewable energy goals, it must keep progressing, especially if the country aims to one day focus their economy towards selling electricity to foreign nations. While the pandemic seems to have stagnated the development of solar energy projects, Morocco is still on a steady path to lead the green revolution among developing countries, and hopefully it can inspire others to follow suit.
© Bruno Felix. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] M. Crippa et al., GHG Emissions of All World Countries," European Commission Joint Research Center, EUR-30831-EN, 2021.
[2] "Global Impact of War in Ukraine: Energy Crisis," United Nations Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance, August 2022.
[3] M. Hochberg, "Renewable Energy Growth in Morocco: An Example for the Region," Middle East Institute, December 2016.
[4] J. Cox et al., "Load Forecasting for the Moroccan Electricity Sector," U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL/TP-5R00-77427, August 2021.
[5] A. Alami, "How Morocco Went Big on Solar Energy, British Broadcasting Corporation, 18 Nov 21.
[6] "Energy Profile: Morocco," International Renewable Energy Agency, August 2022.
[7] S. Hossein Madami et al., "Capacity Value of Concentrating Solar Power Plants, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL/TP-6A20-51253, June 2011.
[8] "Solar Complex Ouarzazate - Morocco," KfW Development Bank,May 2016.
[9] A. Lawson, "£18Bn Project to Link UK to Huge Wind and Solar Farm in Sahara Delayed by a Year," The Guardian, 4 Dec 22.
[10] M. Taylor et al., "Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2021, International Renewable Energy Agency, 2022.
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