A Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) pilot plant has been inaugurated in Aït Baha (Morocco) on October 22^nd, at the presence of Carlo Calenda, Italian Deputy Minister of the Economic Development, Carlo Pesenti, CEO of Italcementi Group, and other business and institutional representatives. The project, started by Italgen in 2011, entailed an investment of about 3 million Euro in R&D.

The plant is located 50 kilometers from Agadir, near one of Italcementi Group most modern cement plants, operating since 2011.

The CSP installation consists of 3 modules with a total reflective surface of 6,000 square meters and a thermal output of 3,800 kW, equal to 1,000 MWh electrical/year. 

In terms of environmental impact, an annual saving of 600 tons of CO2 and of 1,300 oil barrels is esteemed.

The goal of Italgen’s CSP project is to evaluate the true potential of this technology and test the synergies with the neighboring Aït Baha cement plant.

"Thanks to the Government’s attention, to the favorable infrastructures and environment we conceived a pilot project that will allow us to develop, alongside our expertise in wind power, new systems of electricity production with limited environmental impact” declared Giuseppe De Beni, Italgen’s Managing Director.