Morocco launches first phase of 500-megawatt solar energy project

[jpak]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/10/morocco-launches-first-phase-of-500-megawatt-solar-energy-project/

Morocco on Friday officially launched the construction of a 160-megawatt solar power plant near the desert city of Ouarzazate, the first in a series of vast solar projects planned in the country.

The largest of its kind in the world, according to Mustapha Bakkoury, the head of Morocco’s solar energy agency MASEN, the thermo-solar plant will cost 7 billion dirhams (630 million euros) and is slated for completion in 2015, the official MAP news agency reported.

The ambitious project “reinforces the will… to optimise the exploitation of Morocco’s natural resources, to preserve its environment… and sustain its development,” Bakkoury said at the ceremony which was attended by King Mohammed VI.

A consortium led by Saudi developer ACWA Power won the contract to build the plant, near Morocco’s desert gateway city, last September.

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[BlueStreak]

1. I wonder if a global grid would work

There is a lot of discussion abut developing massive batteries to cushion the ups and downs inherent in solar and wind generation. But another way to deal with that might be to interconnect the power grids. When Morocco is at the peak of daylight, California is in darkness. Could we efficiently move that surplus energy from the parts of the world that have daylight to the places in darkness? It is both a question of physics and politics. But if the physics worked, we have been able to overcome the politics with telecom cables, so I don't see why that would have to be a barrier.

And likewise there could be a north-south transfer. The countries in summer will generate more solar energy than the countries in winter at the same time.

So really, my question is whether or not it is possible to carry electricity halfway around the planet with acceptable losses.

[BlueStreak]

2. Here is an article that suggests it is plausible

http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/130312_global_grid/index_EN

[simo.salhi.1985]

3. Help me fill this petition

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/freeze-moroccan-king-assets-us-pardoning-spanish-pedophile-and-participating-human-trafficking/GS5WdYgT

[phantom power]

4. 3000 hectares = 7400 acres, or 11 square miles

(for those of us metrically challenged)