Morocco is hosting an international exhibition on solar energy.
The Solar Expo brings together companies from around the world to showcase their ideas for harnessing the sun’s power.
This is the Solar-E-Cycle.
At the moment, it’s just a prototype for a solar powered cycle.
Canadian engineer Roger Christen and his Moroccan partners plan to improve their invention before it goes into manufacture.
They want to make the Solar-E-Cycle available to people in Morocco and across Africa who have no access to electricity.
“It’s a three-in-one solution. It’s mobility. You can travel 50 kilometres (31 miles) a day with this vehicle just with the sunlight that comes on the solar panel,” says Christen
“It’s a power station on wheels, so you can light the home, operate the internet, the television and pump water,” he explains.
“The scheme is to lease it for 50 cents a day, so it is accessible to the poorest of the poor without any upfront cost,” he adds.
The Solar-E-Cycle team is one of 80 exhibitors at the Solar Expo exhibition in Casablanca.
Morocco is working on an ambitious national strategy to develop renewable energy sources.
It’s one of the very few Arab countries that does not produce petrol and gas – it currently gets more than half of its energy from coal.
But it also wants to exploit solar energy.
Morocco receives 3,000 hours of sunshine per year- rising to 3,600 in the desert areas.
The plan to harness the energy is expected to cost $9 billion USD and will see five new solar plants built by 2020 with a combined production capacity of 2,000 megawatts.
Companies from across the world are at the exhibition to take advantage of that potential.
Businesses from Spain, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Netherlands, Denmark and China are here.
“The sector or renewable energies and of solar energy in particular in Morocco is fast growing,” says Rachid Bougern, founder and director of Solar Expo exhibition.
“Many countries and big international leading companies in the world, in the fields of renewable energies and solar energy in particular, are strongly interested in Morocco and its strategies. Morocco wants to go as far as it can in the renewable energies sector,” he says.
Solar energy is already being exploited on a small scale in agriculture, lighting and water heating.
Many small and medium sized farmers are switching to solar energy because it is affordable and practical.
It does not need huge upfront investments and farmers benefit from government subsidies when buying the equipment.
Rochdi Bouchouya, from French company Aqua Sole, says solar power is a financially viable solution for the agricultural community.
“Here in Morocco, we are lucky because we have sunshine. It is the same in Africa,” he says.
“We have some systems and also the technology that allows us to irrigate and to pump water nearly free of charge two years after installing the systems”
“What we should do now is to use water in a rational way and know where to use it,” he adds.
Morocco launched it’s Solar Plan strategy in 2009.
It is one of the world’s largest solar energy projects.
The Solar Expo runs until February 27th.
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Post time: Jan-31-2017