Morocco wind and solar energy storage power station

The development of solar energy in Morocco follows the Moroccan Solar Plan (Noor), which implies a growth of the installed solar power capacity (Photovoltaic power station, PV, and Concentrating Solar Power plants, CSP) up to 4,800 MW, or 20% of all installed renewable capacities, by 2030.

Dependence on international energy markets and increasing demand for energy are significantly loading the Moroccan economy, which in turn determines the renewable energy as an only way for Morocco to be energy-independent.

The technical potential of wind energy in Morocco can be estimated of 26 GW . The introduction of the Moroccan Integrated Wind Program should provide an increase in the generated energy from wind turbines from 797 MW in 2015 to 2,000 MW by 2020 and up to 5,000 MW, or 20% of all installed capacity, by 2030 [6, 13].

According to various estimates, the geographic wind power potential, i.e., total amount of land area available for wind turbine installation considering geographical constraints, ranges from 214,994 to 333,347 km 2, which is from 38.05 to 58.99% of Moroccan territory.

For Morocco, a methodology for choosing the optimal location for the placement of solar power plants was specially developed . It was shown that the value of Global Horizontal Irradiation (kWh/m 2) for PV plants and Direct Normal Irradiation (kWh/m 2 /year) for CSP plants are principal.

In order to assess the solar energy potential, the sunshine duration, various components of radiation balance, the albedo of the underlying surface and other actinometrical parameters are usually used. For Morocco, a methodology for choosing the optimal location for the placement of solar power plants was specially developed .