Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) said it has completed the construction of a 1 MW concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) power generation plant in the Ouarzazate city in Morocco. This is the company's first megawatt-class CPV project.

The completion coincided with the 22nd conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 22) being held in Morocco, providing further evidence of the commitment of global parties in improving the world's carbon footprint through the implementation of solar energy, said a statement from Sumitomo.

The company had been working on the project facility since June based on the contract with the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen).

A ceremony was held to celebrate the occasion at the plant in Ouarzazate which was attended by over 100 representatives from Japan and Morocco.

These included Mustapha Bakkoury, the president of Masen, Tsuneo Kurokawa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Morocco, and other government officials.

The Sumitomo CPV systems include high-efficiency Fresnel-lens based concentrator modules installed on its dual axis tracking systems. The project included 33 30-kWp-DC systems, said the statement.

Sumitomo Electric said following the successful commencement of the Moroccan project, it will now aim to promote its CPV business not only in the country, but globally with focus on areas that have high solar irradiation.

Located in the northwestern part of the African Continent, Morocco faces the Sahara Desert in the south and its solar radiation is very high. This means that the country has a great potential for solar energy generation, it stated.

In Morocco, in order to increase its electricity self-sufficiency by making an effective use of its rich solar energy resource, the government intends to introduce 2,000 MW and 4,500 MW solar energy power generation facilities by 2020 and 2030 respectively.-TradeArabia News Service