Soitec and Schneider Electric have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Masen (Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy) – a lead player in the Moroccan Solar Plan (MSP) – on an integrated partnership to use Concentrix technology in Morocco.
Completion of the project will create a concentrated PV (CPV) segment serving domestic needs and generating exports of electricity and power plants, thereby contributing to a strategy of controlled energy costs over the long term for Morocco and to the achievement of a plan to build a manufacturing facility in the country.
The Franco-Moroccan initiative marks the first utility-scale project under the Mediterranean Solar Plan in one of the 43 member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean, a partnership uniting Europe with countries in the Mediterranean Basin, the companies note.
The MOU features four key components:
– Research and development (R&D), involving joint work on CPV R&D subjects for technology sharing, based in part on the provision of a demonstrator by Soitec.
– Industrial integration, through development of a local supply chain for CPV system components, including trackers, and opportunity analysis on setting up a CPV module assembling factory in Morocco.
– Training, involving transfer of Soitec's CPV know-how to Masen, and joint analysis by all stakeholders on the feasibility of setting up a master's syllabus on management of renewable energies in partnership with Moroccan universities.
– Pilot projects: two Moroccan CPV pilot projects of 5 MW each, with two different generation systems. All or part of the electricity generated will be exported under the MSP.
