World's largest photovoltaic plant launched

The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI,  launched the first phase of a project that has been described as the largest photovoltaic plant in the world this Friday, February 5th, at a ceremony at Ouarzazate. In the first phase of the project, known as Noor 1, the plant will provide 160 MW of a planned  total of 580 MW, while the second phase of the program, Noor 2, will see the super-complex supply electricity to more than one million people. Initially,  "only" 650,000 people will be served by the plant, which will produce energy from dawn until three hours after sunset. The total cost of the project is estimated at $ 9 billion, of which 3.9 billion dollars have already been invested, including 1 billion dollars from the German investment bank KfW, 596 million dollars from the European Investment Bank and 400 million dollars from the World bank. Mafalda Duarte, the manager of the Investment Climate Fund, commented on the launch, saying: "This is an extremely important project for Africa. Morocco shows that it is at the forefront of technology and helps reduce technology costs at the same time. "