Electricity production from large scale PV plants: Benchmarking the potential of Morocco against California, US

Abstract In this study simulation of the electricity production from a110MWp Photovoltaic (PV) power plant under the climate of Morocco and the US has been done. For this purpose, and based on the meteorological data availability, six sites have been selected (two sites in Morocco and four sites in California). Knowing the fact that the US is one of the leaders in the PV market, a comparative study between the two countries has been conducted in order to Benchmark the electricity production from PV in Morocco. Results show that Morocco can be considered as very competitive in the PV market where the annual production reaches 173GWh in Oujda (Eastern Morocco) and 172GWh in Casablanca. Additionally, with a Performance Ration (PR) of 71%, the simulated 110MWp PV system will be highly performant if installed in Morocco. Those results are very promising, and we believe that they can be attractive for the actors in the PV market to invest in Morocco. That will lead, undoubtedly, to the creation of new jobs and to a sustainable development of the country.

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