Ouarzazate Solar Power Station

Ouarzazate Solar Power Station (OSPS), also called Noor Power Station (نور, Arabic for light) is a solar power complex located in the Drâa-Tafilalet region in Morocco, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Ouarzazate town, in Ghessat rural council area. The entire Solar Project is planned to produce 580 MW at peak when finished and is being built in three phases and in four parts. The total project is expected to cost $9 billion.[2].

The plant will be able to store solar energy in the form of heated molten salt, allowing for production of electricity into the night. Phase 1 comes with a full-load molten salt storage capacity of 3 hours. Noor II, commissioned in 2018,[3] and Noor III, due to open later in 2018, store energy for up to eight hours.[4] It will cover an area of 2,500 hectares (6,178 acres).

The project is being developed with the help of the Spanish consortium TSK-Acciona-Sener and is the first in a series of planned developments at the Ouarzazate Solar Complex by the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN). As of December 2015, the plant was expected to begin commercial operation in June 2017.[5]

Ouarzazate was chosen in 2011 by the Desertec consortium for a solar plant which would be part of a €400bn project that would supply much of Europe with solar electricity through power lines under the Strait of Gibraltar.[6] However, in late 2012 many of the investors, including Spain, Bosch and Siemens pulled out, and Morocco found alternative support from the Africa Development Bank.[7]

Water consumption for the Ouarzazate Noor complex is estimated at 2.5 to 3 million m3 per year for one wet- cooling project (Noor I) and two dry – cooling projects (Noor II and III) and due to the need to clean the reflectors regularly.[8]

*Noor I:
Ouarzazate Solar Power Station (OSPS) – Phase 1, also referred to as Noor I CSP, has an installed capacity of 160 MW. It was connected to the Moroccan power grid on 5 February 2016.[9] It covers 450 hectares (1,112 acres) and is expected to deliver 370 GWh per year.[10] The plant is a parabolic trough type with a molten salt storage for 3 hours of low-light producing capacity.

The cost of the project when it began operations was $3.9 billion.[2] It uses half a million mirrors.[11]

The design uses wet cooling and the need to regularly clean the reflectors means that the water use is high – 1.7 million m3 per year or 4.6 liters per kWh.[12] Water usage is more than double the water usage of a wet cooled coal power station and 23 times the water use per kWh of a dry cooled coal power station,[13] though life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of solar thermal plants show that generating comparable energy from coal typically releases around 20 times more carbon dioxide than renewable sources.[14]

The electricity was to be sold at $0.19 /kWh.[15]

*Noor II:

Noor II CSP is the second phase of the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station. It is a 200 MW CSP solar plant using parabolic troughs. It has a 7 hours storage capacity.[16] It covers an area of 680 hectares (1,680 acres) and is expected to supply 600 GWh per year.[17] Construction started in February 2016[16] and the plant was commissioned in January 2018.[3]

It uses a dry cooling system to decrease water use.[18]

*Noor III :

Noor III CSP is being built as the third part of the Ouarzazate Solar Power Station. It will be a 150 MW (gross) CSP solar project using a solar power tower with 8 hours energy storage.[19] It covers an area of 750 hectares (1,853 acres) and it is expected to supply 500 GWh per year.[17] It will use a dry cooling system to decrease water use.[18]

*Noor IV:

Noor IV will be an 80 MW Photovoltaic power station.

by: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouarzazate_Solar_Power_Station