Intersolar Europe will host an all-day conference session dedicated entirely to solar developments in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) on 13 June.
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai 1GW
currently at the planning stage. Once completed, the solar park is expected to provide 1GW of power
posted May 22, 2012 2:00 AM by Solar Life
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updated May 22, 2012 2:05 AM
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PRO
AfDB helps fund $1.44bn Moroccan solar project
CSP ith central tower 160MW
MASEN Ouarzazate
The African Development bank has approved a loan if $336m to the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) to help finance the Ouarzazate solar power station projects which will have a solar generation capacity of 500MW with all phases complete.
The power station will utilize concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, arraying parabolic trough mirrors around a central tower filled with fluid material, to generate 160MW in the first phase. The project will become one of the largest solar power projects in the world at full expansion.
2G solar POWER Morocco by 2020
Quarzazate is the first stage in Morocco’s $9bn national Solar Power Plan, launched under the aegis of Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) in 2009, with the ambition to deploy 2000MW of solar power generation capacity by 2020
Claiming the the World Bank’s Clean Technology Fund is supposed to be used to alleviate poverty, a British group is objecting to the use of World Bank funds in Morocco to deploy a Desertec solar project in Morocco that will export power to Europe.
After accepting bids from 200 companies, Spain’s Abesinsa ICI Abengoa’s industrial engineering and construction unit, Italy’s Enel SpA and Saudi-owned ACWA Power International are in the lead to develop the project. While Abengoa has developed projects like this before, Enel has only 230 MW in solar development.
Major industrial giants like Siemens, Mitsubishi, Daewoo, Lockheed Martin and Sener were shut out.
The World Development Movement claims that using Clean Technology Fund money for the solar project would be a misuse of funds, as it claims that the program is intended partly to reduce poverty, and ”to prioritise projects that tackle poverty and aid transition to a low carbon economy, instead of subsidising multinational companies.”
But another key reason that the World Bank selected Morocco for funding was the existence of a local manufacturing base with already existing industries, with the ability to supply the project from the most basic raw materials through to the final metal structures, electric and electronic equipment.
“Safety First!”, you may think while watching the following video, but if the cheap (Chinese) polyethylene (?) extension cables just break too often due to rough handling and their low quality, chances are that someone will come up with an alternative. Like this young man in Kenya:
posted May 3, 2012 4:03 AM by Solar Life
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updated May 3, 2012 7:39 AM
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Qatar: gas-fuelled ambitions
world's 3rd largest reserves of natural gas
Qatar is not afraid to flex its diplomatic and financial muscles, and its arrival on the world stage has been extraordinary. Last year the emirate was picked to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, and its political influence was seen to grow during the Arab uprisings. We take a look at what Qatar is trying to achieve and why.
posted Apr 25, 2012 10:37 AM by Solar Life
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updated Apr 25, 2012 12:40 PM
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Mouline, the director of Morocco’s Agency for the Development of Renewable energy
Is Morocco the Mediterranean's
Green Energy Savior?
With Tunisia and Algeria
eager but bogged down by political and infrastructure issues and Libya a question mark as far as stability is concerned, all eyes have fallen on Morocco to prove that renewables can work. Even Egypt, with solar and wind projects underway and promised, will be looking to Rabat for guidance, said Thiemo Gropp, Director of Desertec Foundation, an energy initiative aimed at developing a renewable market across the Southern Mediterranean.
500MW - $3bn
A planned $2.8 billion concentrated solar project, meant to produce
500 MW and scheduled to start construction this year
Currently dependent on imports for 97 percent of its energy needs, Morocco ....
Fouad Douiri, Morocco’s newly appointed Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and the Environment.....
Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN)
Desertec (german) and Transgeen (french)
increase the country’s installed renewable energy capacity from the current 26% to 42% by 2020 (14% from solar, 14 % from wind and 14% from hydropower).
Pay $10 down - activate with $1 scratch card - have solar light
Reader comment:
That is, until he became the first person in the world to use the IndiGo pay-as-you-go solar energy system. Samuel purchased the system for an affordable $10 and now activates it automatically with a $1 scratch-card each week
posted Apr 8, 2012 1:29 AM by Solar Life
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updated Apr 8, 2012 1:33 AM
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BRICS Replacing IMF and World Bank in Africa
JohnDramaniMahama, vice-presidentofGhana
Mahama VP Ghana
said the Cold War and US influence inAfrica almost compelled countries in the regionto seek resources for development from theInternational Monetary Fund and the WorldBank.
Ghana's vice-president was speaking aheadof his visit to Beijing on Thursday to sign a $3-billion loan from the China Development Bank.
Gulf of Guinea
Considered the largest loan so far to a WestAfrican nation, the money is earmarked formajor infrastructure development, including anew gas pipeline, fishing harbors, roads andrailway lines.
Mahama, speaking from his official residenceat Osu Castle in Accra overlooking the Gulf ofGuinea, added Ghana was also in discussionswith Brazil to arrange a similar but smallerfacility of around $1 billion.
posted Apr 5, 2012 3:43 PM by Solar Life
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updated Apr 6, 2012 3:25 AM
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President Mills Ghana
First ever Solar Exhibition in Accra
“The Brighter Way Forward”
La Palm Royal Hotel
Deputy Minister of Energy, Alhaji Innusah Fuseini
says though the use of renewable energy is not the solution to the eratic electricity supply, it is an alternative measure to reduce the load and complement hydro and thermal power.
Investors 2MW solar park Ghana 2015
He announced that Volta River Authority was setting the pace to install the first two megawatts solar park for integration into the national electricity grid by 2015, and called on investors to come on board to invest in that sector.
t is organised by UK based IMPS and EXPO Promotions in partnership with the Association of Ghana Solar Industries with the support of Ghana’s Energy Commission and the Ministry of Energy.
Ghana organiser’s spokesman Mr James Quarshie says, “Solar West Africa ’12 will bring together companies and organisations with common goals seeking to partner in the development of West Africa’s solar industry’’.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Ali Al-Nuaimi, a member of one of the ruling royal families in the United Arab Emirates, talks about his efforts to change the way his country makes and consumes energy, and the outlook for the growth of renewable energy sources. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness with Margaret Brennan." (Source: Bloomberg)
