Morocco’s Noor Ouarzazate complex, built at a cost of $3 billion a decade ago, reaches nearly 600 megawatts of capacity.
Morocco is home to one of the world’s largest solar energy complexes. Noor Ouarzazate is a vast facility built by Saudi company ACWA Power in one of the country’s sunniest regions. A decade after it began operating, the complex has just under 600 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity and can meet the electricity needs of more than one million people, according to World Bank figures.
The project, which required more than $3 billion in international financing, began operating in 2016 and became one of Morocco’s flagship initiatives in its drive to increase renewable energy production. However, Noor has one feature that sets it apart from a conventional solar farm. Part of the complex can store heat captured during the day and use it later to continue generating electricity after the sun has gone down.
The complex is not a single power plant but consists of four separate facilities. Noor I, which began operating in 2016, has a capacity of 160 MW and uses parabolic trough collectors. It was subsequently joined by Noor II, with 200 MW; Noor III, which produces 150 MW using solar tower technology; and Noor IV, a 70 MW photovoltaic facility. Together, the four plants have a total installed capacity of 580 MW.
The most striking sight at the complex is Noor III. Its distinctive tower stands approximately 800 feet tall and is surrounded by thousands of heliostats, mirrors that track the position of the sun and concentrate its rays onto a receiver at the top of the structure. The resulting heat is stored in molten salts and later used to produce steam, drive a turbine and generate electricity.
This technology helps overcome one of the main limitations of conventional solar power, since electricity production does not have to stop as soon as the sunlight disappears. Noor III has around seven hours of thermal energy storage, while Noor I and Noor II also have storage systems that allow some electricity generation to be shifted beyond daylight hours.
Morocco has abundant solar and wind resources but lacks significant oil and gas reserves of its own. When development of the project began, Morocco relied on imports for approximately 95% of its primary energy needs, leaving the country highly exposed to fluctuations in international fuel prices.
Morocco’s energy strategy has sought to capitalize on the country’s geographic advantages to reduce that dependence. Renewable sources currently account for around 44% of Morocco’s installed electricity-generating capacity, according to the country’s Ministry of Energy Transition, which has maintained an official target of surpassing 52% by 2030.
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