Africa's 'first fully solar-powered village' wants to be a model for a renewable future

Near Morocco's sunny Atlantic coast, the tiny community of Id Mjahdi is being touted as Africa's first completely solar-powered village.
Solar power has the potential to become one of Africa's top energy sources, according to the International Energy Agency, but more infrastructure needs to be installed -- of all solar power in use globally, less than 1% currently comes from the continent.
Morocco is leading efforts to fulfill that potential. It already meets 35 percent of its electricity needs from renewables and aims to increase its use of renewable energy to 52 percent by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
"Morocco is unquestionably a leader in sustainable energy," says Francesco La Camera, director-general of IRENA.
The country already has the world's largest solar farm, the Noor-Ouarzazate complex. Now, Id Mjahdi, on the outskirts of the city of Essaouira, is being pitched as a blueprint for how to power remote villages that would be expensive to connect to the national electricity grid.
While many other African villages use solar power to some extent, Id Mjahdi uses it for all its energy needs.