The arid Middle Eastern desert climate offers little in the way of natural resources. But it does boast of brilliant and fierce sunlight. In a continuing effort to reach the goal of 10% renewable power by 2020, Israel has recently been issuing a slew of new solar licences, including a 120 MW thermal solar plant […]
MIT researchers say that soon all we’ll need to harvest our vast solar resource is grass and stabilizing powder. While Masdar and Suntech and other solar energy projects are laboring under expensive, high-tech materials in order to improve their energy-absorbing capability, MIT researchers in the United States are taking a different approach: using grass. (No, […]
Frank Wouters of Masdar Power at Abu Dhabi’s World Future Energy Summit. With its first large scale solar farm expected to be operational by August, Masdar is now about to construct its second utility-scale solar project in the UAE, the 100 MW Nour 1. The first, Shams 1, used concentrated solar-thermal power (CSP) technology, that drives a steam turbine […]
People waiting for the bus on a hot day in Cyprus will soon be able to purchase cold water from a solar powered vending machine.
Torresol - a joint venture between Spain's SENER and Abu Dhabi's Masdar, plans to invest up to $5 billion building 6 GW of concentrated solar-thermal power (CSP) projects over the next three years in the deserts of the MENA region, Spain, and the US. Although the sites are not yet named, at least one of the plants will be in Abu Dhabi. The company ('torre' is Spanish for tower, and 'sol' for sun) says it is optimistic in getting the funding for its ambitious solar project pipeline. “Despite the ongoing economic troubles facing much of the world", says Torresol President Enrique Sendagorta, "we believe we can achieve our goals as foreign banks are becoming more interested in financing solar power projects because it is a winning investment”. The first of the Desertec solar projects all use CSP, in Morocco, and in Algeria, and just today - in Tunisia.
Wow, the Desertec vision is barreling into realization! A clean energy future where the world's deserts supply huge amounts of solar energy to the whole of humankind is truly becoming reality. Now the fourth Desertec project, by far the largest-ever solar plant in the world - for 2,000 MW of solar power - is to be built in Tunisia. (Previous stories: Desertec Begins: 500 MW Moroccan Solar in 2012, then MedGrid joined up, providing the transmission needed, with the plan to export up to 5GW of renewable power by cable under the Mediterranean between North Africa and Europe as early as 2020, and then most recently, the 3rd Desertec Deal Signed – Algerian Solar.) How huge will this solar project be? 2, 000 MW is six times the size of the largest solar CSP project ever built
We have listed 6 big and small solar-powered projects in the MENA region that have inspired us in the hopes that it will do the same for you. Big or small, solar-powered projects in the Middle East and North Africa are transforming our region. Not only do they hold promise of slowly improving air quality […]
Villagers gather around a kiosk in Afto, Ethiopia to charge their cell phones using solar power and to fill up their jerry cans with UV clean water Out in the middle of nowhere Ethiopia, fresh water and electricity are hard to come by. It is partly for this reason that the country’s Prime Minister Meles […]
One high-tech polymer start-up has developed a coating to solve the problem. The huge and visionary Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii)plan to ship vast amounts of solar to Europe has one glaring potential weakness. Dust. Deserts have all the sun that is needed to power vast cities, and recently, the 3rd Desertec deal was signed, but they also have dust. Lots of it. And little water to clean it. Just one month's dust accumulation in desert conditions can reduce a panels output by 35%, and some even warn that water-intensive CSP is impossible for desert solar. So developing dust-resistant solar will be the next Big Thing.
With a 35 meter high sun-ray collection tower and about 50 mirrors positioned to direct the sun, Israel’s AORA is about to flip the switch on its latest solar power plant in Spain. The company created a huge buzz in Israel in 2009 when it was the first solar energy company to connect to the […]
Solar panels at the Kuraymat CSP planet in Egypt require precious water resources to stay clean but Masdar & Siemens aim to change that. When coated with layers of dust, solar panels lose their energy-absorbing efficiency and require a regular cleaning schedule. But spending this precious natural resource on energy when many people in the […]
Fossil-fueled til 2004, Oman is now making bold moves into solar The Sultanate of Oman, despite its small population of under 3 million, is forming an unusual partnership arrangement with Terra Nex for financing and project development of solar infrastructure capabilities locally. Terra Nex, a Switzerland-based wealth management company that develops investment opportunities, acts as a […]
Algiers will be the place to be for utility-scale solar developers next May. The German trade fair specialists Messe and their Algerian daughter company in Algiers will hold a solar trade fair at the Palais des Expositions d'Alger from 7 to 10 May, 2012. As one of three North African desert nations now at the forefront of responsible climate legislation, through its ambitious solar plans and its participation in the visionary Desertec project, Algeria is ideally situated to host the event.
Dubai is expected to run out of oil by 2020. It will invest billions in solar instead. Dubai produces only around 100,000 barrels per day of oil from four existing fields, and is dependent on fossil fuels for electricity production and for water, which must be desalinated. So news that Dubai is planning a gigantic […]
A family near Essaouira, Morocco happily splash around in a natural pool with zero chemicals. A beautiful, luxurious swimming pool in Morocco that contains none of the nasty chemicals that irritate your eyes and cause respiratory problems has functioned perfectly well for over a year. A family living near Essaoiura on the country’s windy west […]