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Updated February 15th, 2021 at 18:15 IST

Morocco's 'second sun' saves 760,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, see how it works

Morocco’s ‘second sun’ or the ‘Noor’ project near Ouarzazate has become the largest solar energy capture plant on the African continent. Here's how it works.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Morocco
| Image:self
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Morocco’s ‘second sun’ or the ‘Noor’ project near Ouarzazate has become the largest solar energy capture plant on the African continent. Supplying electricity throughout the day to at least one million Moroccon households, the essential innovation for the energy transition was developed by Energy Observer Solutions after meeting with Youssef Stitou, Noor Project Manager. The largest plant in the African continent is set a few kilometres outside Ouarzazate which is reportedly equivalent to 3,437 football pitches covered entirely in mirrors, reflectors and even photovoltaic panels. ‘Noor’ project is also the world’s largest system of its kind, and that too, in operation.

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How does the ‘second sun’ work?

The North African country has set itself the target of having at least 42 per cent of its energy supplied by the renewable sources, by the end of last year. Therefore, as Morocco already enjoys 300 days of summer in a year and being one of the countries with the highest level of irradiation, it resorted to developing solar energy. 

The ‘Noor’ project or the Saharan solar tower spans 3,000 hectares and is also the largest solar production complex in the entire world. In the video and images shared by the Energy Observer Solutions, it evidently shows that the project involved over a million solar panels that have the production capacity of 580MW. The Noor, or ‘light’ in Arabic, boasts ‘concentrating solar thermal' technology and at the centre of the complex stands the highest solar tower in Africa (243 metres). 

Since thousands of mirror reflect the light by the sun at the top of the solar tower, the head is produced. This heat further enables the fusing salts to heat up to a temperature of 565 degrees. This produces steam and spins a steam turbine, that further drives the generator to produce electricity. The unique powerplant supply in Morocco will be supplying over a million households throughout the clock, day and night. The structure even saves the equivalent of 760,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

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Published February 15th, 2021 at 18:15 IST

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