17 Nov 2011

MOROCCO / SOLAR POWER PLANT

The World Bank today approved $297 million in loans to Morocco to help finance the Ouarzazate Concentrated Solar Power Plant Project, taking a historic step toward realizing the first large-scale plant in North Africa.
WORLD BANK

Posted at: November 17, 2011 7:59 am

Duration: 02:24

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: MOROCCO / SOLAR POWER PLANT
TRT: 2:24
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17 2011, 0800 GMT
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 16 NOVEMBER 2011, WASHINGTON DC/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, EASTERN MOROCCO

1. Zoom in, solar panels
16 NOVEMBER 2011, WASHINGTON DC
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Inger Andersen, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, World Bank Group"
"Ouarzazate is really exciting because it will help kick start a new renewable energy production in Morocco, it will bring technology to the fore, and in so doing, it will start a whole new revolution around this energy."

FILE – RECENT, EASTERN MOROCCO

3. Zoom in, panels from behind
4. Pan left, panels from underneath
5. Wide shot, panels and solar station in background

16 NOVEMBER 2011, WASHINGTON DC

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Walters, Strategy and Programs Director, Middle East and North Africa Region, World Bank Group:
"This solar resource has been sitting there obviously forever in the Middle East and North Africa and somebody needs to take the plunge so that that huge resource can benefit the world, can benefit the MENA region, can benefit Europe and so on.  Morocco is taking that plunge, the Ouarzazate project is the first large scale use of solar energy in the region, it is setting an example that can be replicated elsewhere."

FILE – RECENT, EASTERN MOROCCO

7. Zoom out, panels being cleaned
8. Zoom out, men working at solar plant

16 NOVEMBER 2011, WASHINGTON DC

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Silvia Pariente-David, Senior Energy Specialist, Middle East and North Africa Region,  World Bank Group:
"It is going to lead the country to import less energy also to be less dependent on fossil fuels because they will be renewable, substituting for imported fossil fuels, it will also contribute to a better environment as it will reduce co2 emissions so it is part of the climate change mitigation agenda, and finally, maybe the most important, is the derived economic effects at the plant will create local value and therefore jobs from the manufacturing of some of the components of the plant."

FILE-RECENT, KUREIMAT, EGYPT

10. Zoom out, men carrying solar panels
11. Wide shot, solar panels being lifted by crane

STORYLINE:
 
The World Bank today approved $297 million in loans to Morocco to help finance the Ouarzazate Concentrated Solar Power Plant Project, taking a historic step toward realizing the first large-scale plant in North Africa to exploit the region's vast solar energy resources.

SOUNDBITE (English) Inger Andersen, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, World Bank Group:
"Ouarzazate is really exciting because it will help kick start a new renewable energy production in morocco, it will bring technology to the fore, and in so doing, it will start a whole new revolution around this energy."

With this approval from the Bank's Board of Executive Directors, Morocco takes the lead with the first project in the low-carbon development plan for nine commercial-scale power plants and two transmission projects in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia under the ambitious five-nation Middle East and North Africa Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Scale-up Program.

A $200 million loan will be provided by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the part of the Bank that lends to developing country governments, and another $97 million loan will come from the Clean Technology Fund.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jonathan Walters, Strategy and Programs Director, Middle East and North Africa Region, World Bank Group:
"This solar resource has been sitting there obviously forever in the Middle East and North Africa and somebody needs to take the plunge so that that huge resource can benefit the world, can benefit the MENA region, can benefit Europe and so on.  Morocco is taking that plunge, the Ouarzazate project is the first large scale use of solar energy in the region, it is setting an example that can be replicated elsewhere."

The 500 MW Ouarzazate solar complex, as the first power site, will be among the largest CSP plants in the world and is an important step in Morocco's national plan to deploy 2000 MW of solar power generation capacity by 2020.

The World Bank has supported Morocco's national Solar Power Plan since it was launched in 2009 and is now making this significant loan to co-finance the development and construction of the Ouarzazate Project Phase 1 parabolic trough plant through a Public Private Partnership between the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) and a private partner. Ouarzazate Phase 1 will involve the first 160 MW and will help Morocco avoid 240,000 tons of CO2 equivalent a year.

The Ouarzazate project will also contribute to Morocco's objectives of energy security, job creation, and energy exports. As a regional frontrunner in clean energy, Morocco is rising to the challenge of its international commitments made in the last two United Nations' climate summits and under the "Union for the Mediterranean."

SOUNDBITE (English) Silvia Pariente-David, Senior Energy Specialist, Middle East & North Africa Region,  World Bank Group:
"It is going to lead the country to import less energy also to be less dependent on fossil fuels because they will be renewable, substituting for imported fossil fuels, it will also contribute to a better environment as it will reduce co2 emissions so it is part of the climate change mitigation agenda, and finally, maybe the most important, is the derived economic effects at the plant will create local value and therefore jobs from the manufacturing of some of the components of the plant."

The Ouarzazate loan is in line with the World Bank's commitment to scaling up funding that helps developing countries cope with climate change and embark on a low-emission development path. The World Bank Group's renewable energy portfolio increased from a total of $3.1 billion between fiscal years 2008-09 to $4.9 billion in 2010-11. Given the simultaneous expansion of the overall energy portfolio during the same period, the renewable energy proportion rose from 20 percent to 23 percent.