IBC SOLAR PV system improves living conditions in fishermen’s village in Southern Morocco

Boudjour / Morocco, May 28, 2018 – IBC SOLAR AG, a global leader in photovoltaic (PV) systems and energy storage, and its Moroccan partner company SEWT sarl (Sun Energy and Water Technologies), have delivered and installed an off-grid PV hybrid system with a capacity of 126 kWp ordered by the National Moroccan Fishery Office (Office National des Pêches – ONP). The system consists of 500 photovoltaic panels combined with batteries and diesel generators and is located in Aftissat, a fisher’s village in the province of Boujdour (Southern Morocco). After one and a half years of producing and storing clean solar energy, the system has helped to increase the living conditions of the fishermen and has reduced diesel costs as well as CO2 emissions significantly.

With an annual production of 233,000 kWh, the system is able to cover the daily energy needs of the fisher’s village every day of the year. Refrigeration, cold storage units, shops and domestic infrastructure constantly consume around 600 kWh electricity per day. The PV hybrid system has been designed for autonomous self-consumption and helps to reduce diesel costs by 95 percent and CO2 emissions by 99 percent. The whole system is PV centralised, therefore diesel generators are still part of the system but only needed as a back-up in times of low irradiation or low batteries. Thus, for the fishermen a secure and clean power supply was realised. This means a significant improvement in living and working conditions.

The off-grid installation in Aftissat is composed of 504 IBC PolySol 250 CS solar modules, 18 inverters by SMA and batteries with a   storage capacity of 800 kWh. All components except for the batteries have been delivered by IBC SOLAR and installed by the local experts of SEWT, who were also responsible for the system’s overall design.

PV hybrid solutions offer a crucial advantage compared to pure diesel systems: the diesel consumption is massively reduced because the diesel generator is only used in periods of low irradiation. Furthermore, wear and tear as well as maintenance costs are considerably lowered. As a result, plant operators are largely independent from fossil fuels and soaring diesel prices. CO2 emissions are also reduced and operators are consequently protecting the environment.

The project was commissioned by Morocco’s National Fishery Office in order to contribute to Morocco’s national green energy plan. This includes a growing development of wind, solar and hydro energy, and the reduction of fossil fuel subsidies. It is scheduled to increase the share of renewable energies within the energy mix to 42 percent by 2020 and to 52 percent by 2030. The fishing industry in Morocco is a leading foreign exchange earner, accounting for 16 percent of total exports. The National Fishery Office strongly intends to boost the modernisation of the domestic fishery sector.

More information on the company’s international services, as well as on further news and product highlights from IBC SOLAR, can be discovered at the Intersolar Europe (Munich, June 20 to 24, 2018), Europe’s leading trade fair for solar technology, in hall A3, booth 579.

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