Schneider Electric, Soitec to establish Moroccan CPV plants and factory

16 Jun 2011

Energy management specialist Schneider Electric and semiconductor material developer Soitec plan to establish a solar manufacturing facility in Morocco and two pilot concentrated photovoltaic (PV) projects under the country’s national solar plan.

The partners inked an agreement with the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy, Masen, to develop the concentrated PV project using Concentrix technology.

Their partnership is expected to create a concentrated PV business that will serve the domestic region as well as generating exports.

The initiative marks the first utility-scale project under the Mediterranean Solar Plan for countries in the Mediterranean Basin and will see the development of two 5MW Moroccan concentrated PV pilot projects.

The first project is a 5MW demonstration unit in Ouarzazate that is due to come online next year, establishing a joint basis for research and development between the partners. The second project will use next generation modules at a site that is yet to be approved by the partners.

Morocco’s own solar plan, which is jointly supported by the Moroccan and French governments, has a research and development component, an industrial integration segment and a training aspect, as well as involving pilot projects.

‘This multidimensional pilot partnership on concentrated PV, a promising solar power technology, fits in perfectly with Masen’s vision on integrated development of the Moroccan Solar Plan,’ said Masen chairman Mustapha Bakkoury.

Schneider Electric has a sixty-year history of working in Morocco, according to its renewable energy director Laurent Bataille.

Tags: CPV, solar