2024-05-01 00:38:49
Abdelhakim Khirane received the prize for his article “Mounia Zemamou: innovation with the winds”.
Below is the winning article:
Mounia Zemamou: innovation with the winds
Rabat, 03/07/2023 (MAP) – Throughout its centuries-old history, Morocco has given birth to illustrious names who have made it famous in various fields, some having preferred to continue their creative journey in the country of the ancestors , while others have set their sights on new horizons to further optimize their potential and better sharpen their skills and know-how.
Following in the footsteps of these pioneers, Mounia Zemamou chose, against all odds, to make her way, armed with confidence and optimism, but also with unfailing vitality, her gaze constantly riveted on the open sea, the horizon.
Believing firmly that success is the fruit of work and sweat, she has forged her path with forceps, leaving nothing to chance, constantly redoubling her efforts to protect herself against the repercussions of destiny and the surprises of adversity.
The famous Arab poet Al-Mutanabbi said in his time that the winds blow against ships. Not for Mounia, who has set his sights on small wind turbines, his favorite field for trying to adjust the force of the winds, to produce energy.
She explains in a technical and scientific way that her new model of turbines revolves around a vertical axis, unlike the gigantic blades which rotate around a horizontal axis, ensuring that its design allows 30% more productivity.
This model of turbines, she continues, easily accommodates personalized installation in homes, industrial units, certain agricultural operations for pumping irrigation water, or even in remote areas far from the electricity network.
According to her, these turbines, given their small size, can also be used independently or coupled with solar panels, which ensures energy self-sufficiency in the areas concerned.
“All areas are suitable spaces for these turbines due to the fact that they have the ability to operate at reduced wind speeds of up to two to three meters per second, which is widely available in all regions, regardless of the installation height of the turbines”, she further specifies.
Mounia believes that if “ambition has no limits, self-satisfaction is a disguised desire for death.” And this is precisely the reason why she staunchly maintains that her invention is only the beginning of an adventure that she would like to see, soon, move beyond the cold conception of laboratories to the real test of the winds.
Perhaps then the empirical test would lead to larger dimensions for optimal use of these turbines, with the ambition of marketing this model nationally and internationally!
Confident and resolute, with her head on her shoulders, Mounia swears by solid and applied scientific research, which she sharpens through contact with books, questions, and challenges. Then, like a bee flying over the petals of plants, she patiently and passionately makes the nectar from her research.
These are the same virtues that she recommends to young researchers: the choice of a subject that fascinates them, patience and perseverance, and openness to the different fields of scientific research, through participation in seminars. and international conferences and the exchange of experiences and expertise with their peers around the world.
“Without forgetting that these exchanges also make it possible to highlight the skills of Moroccan researchers and the enormous potential they have, each in their own specialty,” she hastens to add.
And because “ambition is limitless”, Mounia does not deprive herself of traveling all over the world to establish contacts, broaden knowledge, put an experience to the test, find out about the progress of a research… To perfect her project, she has lost count of the countries she has visited to take part in activities and seminars linked to the sustainability and security of resources on a planetary scale.
As a pure product of his environment, Mounia very early on chose a scientific training in line with the major questions shaking the Earth, in particular those related to global warming, the increase in natural disasters and the worrying increase in CO2 emissions, even though the whole world agrees that the survival of the Blue Planet depends on the use of clean energies.
On this specific point, she does not hide her pride in belonging to a country which, like Morocco, was one of the pioneering States to develop a prospective, precise and promising vision in this area, thanks to enormous structuring projects. aiming to achieve an energy mix of 52% of its needs by 2030, which will significantly reduce both its energy dependence and its carbon footprint.
In his eyes, in the context of the energy crisis which impacts both societies and individuals, the energy transition, far from being a luxury or an optional choice, is an urgent necessity which requires the mobilization of all renewable resources available to generate eco-friendly energy.
To do this, she maintains, it is imperative to establish a local industry in this area, to invest more in scientific research and to raise collective awareness of the importance of renewable energies as an alternative solution to fossil resources. .
On her interest in renewable energies, Mounia confides that it is a passion that she has cultivated for a long time. Having completed her baccalaureate, she joined the National School of Arts and Crafts of Rabat (ENSAM) where she spent two years, before joining the Faculty of Sciences of Kénitra for a professional degree and a Master’s degree specializing in renewable energies.
It was there that she began her research on renewable energies and where she obtained her doctorate in a field which, she says, “although new, is promising, opens up enormous prospects and has not been sufficiently explored, unlike solar energy.
This scientific commitment, punctuated by so many inventions, was soon crowned by the Green Talents Prize which was awarded to him by the German Ministry of Education and Scientific Research in 2009.
Mounia, Ph-D in laboratory physics of electronic systems, information processing, mechanics and energy, is the only winner to have won this Prize in the MENA region out of 25 recipients, in recognition of her ability to combine academic competence and social commitment to education for sustainable development.
“A consecration which gives me moral impetus and additional inspiration to give more”, humbly explains the winner.
Presenting himself as a pure product of the public education system, Mounia approaches the question of scientific research in Morocco in two ways. According to her, the country has, on the one hand, high-level creative skills which have nothing to envy of developed countries and which should be supported and supported to enable them to unleash their potential in order to contribute to the efforts of the development. On the other hand, we should review the low budget allocated to scientific research which, according to her, impacts the quality of production, particularly in scientific disciplines which require equipment and financial support that can allow researchers to participate in international conferences. with a view to sharpening their skills and being in tune with current experiences around the world.
Would she consider moving elsewhere? Mounia leaves the door ajar. She says she is “open to any opportunity” allowing her to develop her project and further sharpen her knowledge.
She recalls how, after the Green Talents Prize, she spent three months in a laboratory in Germany, alongside a professor specializing in energy and energy savings, to explore how the new design of wind turbines could promote production. green hydrogen for individual use.
This collaboration will be the subject of an article to be published in a prestigious scientific journal, assures the researcher, noting however that this “temporary migration” allowed her to make contact with the experiences of other researchers from different countries in connection with energy issues.
The story of Mounia, like that of other Moroccan skills, provides proof of a latent success story which, buried deep within every individual confident in his abilities, is only waiting for the saving trigger to assert itself. .
Strong in its historical roots, proud of its belonging to this blessed land, the Moroccan genius will never cease to surprise: it is part of the long line of innovation and renewal.
2024-05-01 00:38:49