Construction for the first phase of Morocco’s Noor 1 power plant is nearing completion

Construction for the first phase of Morocco’s Noor 1 power plant is nearing completion. Once complete in 2020, the solar farm will be the largest of its kind in the world. But even now, the plant’s half-million solar mirrors are already visible from space.

There’s no question that solar power is the future, an energy trend that’s fueling the development of massive solar farms in such places as California, China, and elsewhere. And where better to put these plants than in the desert—areas that feature plenty of sunshine and vast expanses of land that are otherwise useless and inhospitable.

Morocco’s up-and-coming Noor 1 CSP plant is a prime example. The first phase of this concentrated solar power plant, which is being built in the Sahara Desert near the town of Ouarzazate, is almost finished.

Here’s how the area appeared in December 2013 when construction began. 

This image, taken on December 14, 2015, shows the plant in it’s current form. 

The plant is scheduled to be switched on later this year, at which time it will boast a power-generating capacity of 160 megawatts. Once the entire plant is built, it will be capable of producing 580 megawatts making it the largest solar concentrated solar power plant in the world. Once complete, it will cover an area of 2,500 hectares, or 6,178 acres...