World’s Largest Solar Project Planned for Saharan Desert

[n2doc]

by Bridgette Meinhold


If just 0.3% of the Saharan Desert was used for a concentrating solar plant, it would produce enough power to provide all of Europe with clean renewable energy. That is why 20 blue chip German companies are gathering together next month to discuss plans and investments to create such a massive project. Both the meeting and project are being promoted by the Desertec Foundation, which is proposing to erect 100 GW of concentrating solar power plants throughout Northern Africa.


The red squares in the above map represent the land area necessary to meet the energy demand of the world, the EU and MENA in 2005. The last square represents the land necessary for the proposed project to generate 100 GW of concentrating solar power. The project being proposed by Desertec would not all be situated in one location, but scattered throughout politically stable countries. Taken as a whole, the project qualifies as the world’s largest solar installation - 80 times larger than the PG&E and BrightSource project planned for the Mojave Desert. The power generated would be transported over high-voltage DC lines across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, where it would supply 15% of the energy demand. The project is still 10-15 years from going online, but that’s why major players are getting started now.

Companies like Seimans, Deutsche Bank, energy companies RWE and E.on, as well as the German insurer Munich Re are all interested in getting involved despite the financial crisis. All of the companies claim that this is how they are fighting back against climate change, and that in order to avoid an energy crisis in 2050 they have to start building now. To build the 100 GWs worth of solar power a total of €400bn investment is needed.
more:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/22/worlds-largest-solar-project-sahara-desert/

[ensho]

1. kick

nt

[lindisfarne]

2. Not that this news is not encouraging, but now we can start having wars in Saharan countries. n/t

[kristopher]

3. Why? We have the Mohave. nt

[Mist]

4. A friend mentioned to me (a few years ago) that the state of New Mexico was

interested in building a solar power farm. If something like 1/200th of their desert was solar farmed, it would provide enough energy for NM, and 6 or 7 other states. For some reason, the plan was dropped.

[pleah]

5. K&R

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. Wonderful news. I hope they are also considering that such a concentrated

area of energy generation will need to be protected from attacks from terrorists seeking destabilization and from other groups whose corporate agenda would be harmed by the availability of energy from this source.

[Ghost Dog]

7. Yes, excellent project,

been a few years on the drawing-board and I'm pleased to see financiers gearing up now.

However: there are at present no politically-stable countries in the region, unless it's Libya. the left-hand side of the above map, for example, runs a line through illegally Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara, where there is strong native resistance (soon to get hotter, by all accounts, due to US-led UN failure). Morocco itself is a US and French-supported torture-loving dictatorship-kingdom, and the regime in neighboring Algeria is based on anulled and manipulated elections excluding popular Islamic and non-Islamic left-leaning parties (and provoking angry, bloody resistance).

Nevertheless, the leaderships of Morocco and Algeria, bitter enemies, have lately come to agree to a soon-to-be-opened natural gas pipeline running from Algerian gas fields through Morocco and under the Mediterranean into Spain, to be linked into the EU system, so the above-described long-distance DC lines are presently politically possible, as long as enough baksheesh is channelled into the 'right' pockets. And party-king Berlusconi seems to be getting on with Tunisian and perhaps Libyan fellow ludically-minded strong-men just fine.

But authentic social and political (as well as economic) stability amongst the Berber and Arab people of the region could only be provided by progressive enlightened, I emphasise enlightened, popular Islamic forces in government. Anathema, however, to the moneyed West and its cohorts.

Or, you're asking for stability, and solar energy, at the barrel of a gun, unfortunately. This is surely what we will see.

Oh, and I see some big money also gearing up to invest in large thermosolar projects in Spain. :think: Plus: what about putting some of these on floating platforms out at sea?

(Greetings from the Canary Islands - those little dots you see offshore on the left of the above map). :)