World Bank Co-Finances Morocco's Ouarzazate 500 MW Concentrated Solar Thermal Power

The World Bank approved $297 million in loans to Morocco to support construction and operation of Morocco’s 500-megawatt (MW) Ouarzazate Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant, one of several large scale solar power projects in various stages of planning or development across the solar energy rich Middle East-North Africa region.

Upon completion, the Ouarzazate parabolic trough CSP plant would be one of the largest CSP plants in the world. A group of seven international lenders has committed $1.435 billion dollars to build and develop the project. Ouarzazate is seen as a key milestone for Morocco’s national Solar Power Plan, which was launched in 2009 with the goal of deploying 2000 MW of solar power generation capacity by 2020.

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A newly invented material could revolutionize many industries at once. Discovered by a collaborating team from three U.S. universities, the metal is the lightest material ever discovered – so light it can actually sit on a dandelion. The new material’s density is 0.9 milligrams/cubic centimeter, and Styrofoam, one of the lightest so far, is 100 times heavier.

The lightweight metal has been engineered at nanoscale level, so that the “micro-lattice” of interconnected hollow tubes contains 99.99 percent air, and only 0.01 percent solid. The tubes’ wall thickness is 1,000 times thinner than human hair

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Hybrid solar-wind power connects rural Navajos

by Martin LaMonica

Power transmission lines run a few hundred yards behind the Johnson family home here, but it took an off-grid solar and wind generator to finally bring them electricity service.

The Johnsons, who live on a remote stretch of land on the Navajo Reservation west of Farmington, N.M., are among about 200 families on the Navajo Reservation who rent an off-grid renewable-energy system from the rural utility. They opened their home to visitors last week during a fellowship organized by Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources.

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