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Vast desert sun farm to help light up Morocco | Agence France-Presse
Morocco’s renewable energy sector is producing big results for the country’s economy as well as the environment:
On the edge of the Sahara desert, engineers make final checks to a sea of metal mirrors turned towards the sun, preparing for the launch of Morocco’s first solar power plant.
The ambitious project is part of the North African country’s goal of boosting its clean energy output with what it says will eventually be the world’s largest solar power production facility.
Morocco has scarce oil and gas reserves, and is the biggest importer of energy in the Middle East and North Africa.
The plant is part of a vision to move beyond this heavy dependency and raise renewable energy production to 42 percent of its total power needs by 2020.
About 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside Ouarzazate, half a million U-shaped mirrors — called “parabolic troughs” — stretch out in 800 rows, slowly following the sun as it moves across the sky…[FULL STORY]