Beyond Electricity: How Morocco’s Solar Plant Is Benefiting Communities and Women and Shaping the Region’s Future
The Noor-Ouarzazate complex is one of the largest concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities in the world—so large, in fact, that it is visible from space. Its goal is to provide power to over one million Moroccans while reducing Morocco’s oil consumption by about 2.5 million tons and cutting 760,000 tons of carbon emissions per year. It represents a bold step that underlines Morocco’s commitment to breaking dependence on imported fossil fuels and moving toward low carbon development.
The Noor-Ouarzazate complex is one of the largest concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities in the world—so large, in fact, that it is visible from space. Its goal is to provide power to over one million Moroccans while reducing Morocco’s oil consumption by about 2.5 million tons and cutting 760,000 tons of carbon emissions per year. It represents a bold step that underlines Morocco’s commitment to breaking dependence on imported fossil fuels and moving toward low carbon development. The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) has provided comprehensive support to the government of Morocco since the beginning of the project. The result has been 200 million US dollars in World Bank financing and 97 million US dollars co-financing from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) to construct the plant complex.