The Moroccan city of Ouarzazate, about 200 km southeast of Marrakech, sits on the edge of the Sahara and is often called the “door to the desert.” Known for the Atlas Film Studios, the area is also the site of Noor, one of the world’s largest solar power plants.
Located on a high plateau beneath the Atlas Mountains, Noor stretches over nearly 500 hectares and produces enough energy to power more than a million homes. But it is not a typical photovoltaic farm. Noor uses concentrated solar power: two million large mirrors focus sunlight onto a central receiver atop a 247-meter tower. The concentrated rays heat molten salt to about 600 °C (1,112 °F), producing steam that drives turbines and can generate electricity hours after sunset.
Despite Noor’s scale, many local households still depend on butane gas, and electricity remains costly. One reason is Morocco’s ongoing reliance on fossil fuels—especially coal-fired generation—which has slowed the clean energy transition. “Just the fossil fuel-generated electricity contributes about 48% of the country’s energy related greenhouse gas emissions,” says Intissar Fakir, a senior fellow and founding director of the North Africa and the Sahel program at the Middle East Institute.
Moroccans spend roughly $110 of an average $550 monthly income on electricity. In a hot, dry country where cooling is essential—temperatures in Ouarzazate often exceed 40 °C and the number of hot days and nights has roughly doubled since the 1970s—energy costs bite. Morocco imports about 90% of its coal, oil and gas, exposing it to market price swings that consume a large share of the national budget and make the shift away from imported fossil fuels urgent.
At the same time, Morocco has advanced on renewables more than many neighbors. The country aims for 52% renewable electricity by 2030 and 70% clean power capacity by 2050, and it has pledged to phase out coal power by 2040. Noor is one of roughly two dozen built mega-projects, with several dozen more in planning. Yet while Morocco has the capacity to generate 46% of its electricity from renewable technologies, actual output in 2023 reached only a bit over half of that potential.
“The actual output in the country’s ability to integrate what Noor produces remains quite limited,” Fakir says. Morocco needs to invest in grid capacity and energy storage to integrate more renewables into everyday supply and to realize ambitions to export clean power, particularly to Europe. Even as solar panels and wind turbines decline in price, large-scale projects still require significant upfront investment—an obstacle for lower-income countries.
Researchers and civil-society groups have questioned the focus on mega-projects like Noor rather than decentralized solutions such as rooftop photovoltaic installations for homes, businesses and farms. Concentrated solar power is also water-intensive: mirrors must be cleaned of sand and dust, and the plant appropriated grazing land from local farmers with limited consultation.
The project has divided local communities. Many residents say they have seen few benefits; an 83-year-old villager, Imrane, noted electricity remains expensive for locals and claimed the mirrors and concentrated sunlight have increased temperatures in nearby areas. Yet Fakir calls Noor an experiment: a flagship that demonstrates Morocco’s technical capabilities while highlighting that even massive investments struggle to displace entrenched coal and fossil fuel generation.
Edited by: Stuart Braun
This article was adapted from a DW Living Planet radio series on solar energy.