NOOR Solar Plant: Ouarzazate
Overview
NOOR means light in Arabic. Capture the energy from the sun and you have power to light your houses, heat your houses, cool your houses, drive your factories and drive your transport systems for as long as there is a planet Earth. It is almost natural. Clean power? Certainly no polluting gases (oil, gas and coal power) or waste products that cannot be processed or even buried (nuclear power), no permanently destroyed ecosystems (hydro power), no monocultures on land that would be better used for producing food or maintaining biodiversity (bio fuel) and no monstrous turbines scattered over the tops of many of the world’s most beautiful wild places which work only when the wind blows between 27 and 56 kph and even then, with at best a 30% level of efficiency, never paying off even their carbon footprint. Infinite electrical energy, day and night, summer and winter at a fraction of the real cost of nuclear power? What are we waiting for? Oh! In Britain? The Sun?
Resources
- Resource 1:
Download Morocco: Noor Solar Plant - Resource 2:
Download photos of students at Noor Solar Plant
Quotes from teachers
Noor shines a light on the future. Noor was a great experience. Great to see all the major types of solar energy so clearly displayed and showing what a pivotal role it has to play in the Nexus of the Draa Valley"
Gareth Willis, Sevenoaks Teacher
Our visit to Noor really enhanced our Morocco experience. Understanding energy is key to getting 'geography' and the visit that was made possible by Discover Ltd was a real highlight for students and staff involved.
Richard Allaway, Campus des Nations
Photos
Looking across the parabolic troughs of Noor 2 at the tower of Noor 3
Noor 2
A close-up of the parabolic troughs of Noor 2
Students from the International School of Geneva - Campus des Nations listening to an introductory lecture at the visitors centre
Students from the International School of Geneva - Campus des Nations looking out from the observation tower towards Noor 3
Students from the International School of Geneva - Campus des Nations using the commanding view from the observation tower to look towards Noor 1
The visitors' centre
With thanks to Richard Allaway, Technology for Learning Coordinator, Teacher of Individuals and Societies and IB DP Geography. International School of Geneva - Campus des Nations
