Morocco solar energy deals led by Saudi Arabia
ACWA rumored to win the contract to build a 160 MW CSP project in in the south of Morocco.
Susan Kraemer
Visionary Masdar CEO Named “Champion of the Earth” by UN
Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the Masdar CEO, is the recipient of this year’s United Nations’ Champions of the Earth award. The award honours individuals whose actions and leadership have had a far-reaching positive impact on the environment, in advancing clean energy technologies to mitigate the threats of climate change. Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted renewable energy […]
Saudi Arabian Solar Chosen by South Africa
A Saudi solar project with gigantic storage could deliver solar at night in South Africa. Saudi Arabia might not spring to mind as a nation creating the top CSP companies globally, but South Africa just selected as a “preferred bidder” to develop solar, a consortium led by the Kingdom’s own power and water group ACWA […]
Details Emerge of Saudi’s $109 Billion Solar Plan
Saudi Arabia could be running one third of the planet’s CSP plants by 2030. With the recent announcement of the most ambitious solar plan in the world, solar developers are now headed to the oil-rich Kingdom to help make it happen.The first of a planned 25 GW of CSP (Concentrated Solar Power: mirrors to heat […]
Why Did the Saudis Just Go Big in Solar? Oil Prices.
Saudi Arabia will save an estimated 690,000 barrels of oil a day by investing in renewables. Wonder just why Saudi Arabia finally got serious about solar with a $109 billion plan to solar-power a third of the Kingdom? I did. After all, for a long time, while its greener neighbors have been adding thousands of […]
Arava Drags Israel into Solar Century with 58.5 MW Project Licensed, Contracted, and Financed
Is the sun finally rising on Israeli solar? After a very slow start in solar energy production, Israel is finally beginning to join her Arab neighbors fast-forwarding into a solar future, like the Saudis’ $109 Billion Solar Plan to Power a Third of Saudi Arabia. Arava Power Company, Israel’s only solar developer to make any headway […]
Qatar’s Polysilicon Manufacturing to Help Supply 10 Percent Solar Goal
Qatar to tap the solar potential of the Middle East to supply 10 percent of its electricity by 2018. Qatar is the latest of the oil-rich Middle East/North African (MENA) nations to make bold solar plans to trap a world-record insolation to supply energy for its rapidly growing economy – one that bolted an incredible […]
Poverty Group Objects to Clean Technology Fund in Morocco
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.
Egypt to Test Unique CSP Solar/Biomass Hybrid Plant
This wood waste may not look like fuel for a solar power plant, but it soon could be.
$109 Billion Solar Plan to Power a Third of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has finally noticed it has twenty centuries of solar reserves and has made plans to tap them. For its own use.The Kingdom has just announced a $109 billion plan to create a solar industry that generates a third of the nation’s electricity by 2032, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Maher al- Odan, a consultant at the King […]
Mebiol’s Futuristic Hydrogel to Grow Food on Desert Sand
A hydrogel could make deserts flourish with crops grown on under a fifth of the water.
Why BrightSource Did not Need that IPO
When BrightSource withdrew its IPO this month, the death knell for solar was sounded, as always. The truth is more mundane. According to the always inquisitive Katie Fehrenbacher over at GigaOm who managed to snag a Q&A with the company, BrightSource just doesn’t necessarily need the extra money right now. Its Ivanpah solar thermal project is already fully funded […]
Morocco to Build Cars in Zero Carbon Factory
Morocco’s zero-carbon car factory opening earlier this month, via NY Times. The CEO of Renault–Nissan alliance Carlos Ghosn and Moroccan King Mohammed VI inaugerated French automaker’s one-billion-euro plant in Tangier which is set to boost Morocco’s automobile industry.The plant will build several new ‘low cost’ vehicles with an annual capacity that could reach ups 400,000 […]
Solar-Rich Saudis Running after Nukes
It has no uranium, but lots of solar – yet Saudi Arabia plans to double down on nuclear capacity. As we covered previously, working with China, Saudi Arabia will spend more than $100 billion to build 16 nuclear energy plants within the next few years, as part of ramping up its electric capacity. But the […]
Interview: SolarReserve For the MENA Region?
This week I spoke to Kevin Smith, the CEO of SolarReserve, the U.S. company constructing the largest 24 hour solar project worldwide in Nevada, who told me that they are beginning to be active in the Middle East North Africa region as well. “We do have projects in development,” he said, “in Morocco, and Algeria […]