Water consumption analysis of Moroccan concentrating solar power station

The development of solar power plants for electrical production is made through the new strategy of the Moroccan Kingdom, to limit its energy dependency. 2016 marks the start of the electricity production of the first plant Noor 1 in Ouarzazate city. This plant use the CSP technology, with parabolic through collector. To ensure its operation and guarantee its power supply, a large amount of water is needed. In this study analyze of the water consumption per hours during the twelve months of the year indispensable for electricity production of Noor 1 plant was carried out, by using System Advisor Model (SAM). Simulation results compared to industrial data allowed us to propose optimal recommendations concerning mainly the reduction of water consumption and increase electricity production. By exceeding the required amount of water by 2%, to produce about 487 GWh instead of an anticipated quantity equal to 500 GW, the operator have to minimize its consumption to gain 32 m3 of water which can be exploited in the new stations and at the same time increase its production by 13 GWh.