Morocco inaugurates first phase of world's largest solar plant

King Mohammed VI on Thursday inaugurated Morocco's first phase of the country’s solar power plant, a massive project that the country sees as part of its goal of boosting its clean energy output.

French Environment Minister Segolene Royal was among foreign and local officials who attended the opening on the edge of the Sahara desert, around 20km outside Ouarzazate.

"The solar plant underlines the country's determination to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, use more renewable energy, and move towards low carbon development," its developers said in a statement. 

With an electricity production capacity of 160 megawatts, Noor 1 can cut up carbon dioxide emissions by 240,000 tonnes per year, according to estimates from the energy ministry.

The project's next phases - Noor 2 and Noor 3 - are to follow in 2016 and 2017, and a call for tenders is open for Noor 4.

The entirety of the complex will result in the world’s largest solar plant.

Once all phases are complete, it is to be "the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world" and produce 500 megawatts of electricity, providing power to more than one million Moroccans by 2018, its developers said.

It is to reduce Morocco's carbon emissions by 760,000 tonnes per year, they added.

That would be equivalent to around one percent of Morocco's CO2 emissions of around 56.5 million tonnes in 2011, according to World Bank figures.

Morocco launched construction of Noor 1 in 2013, at a cost of $660mn and involving roughly 1,000 workers.

Spread over an area equivalent to more than 600 football pitches, the plant's 500,000 metal mirrors follow the sun as it moves across the sky. 

They store thermal energy from its rays and use it to activate steam turbines that produce electricity.

Morocco has scarce oil and gas reserves, and is the biggest importer of energy in the Middle East and North Africa.