Can Deserts Provide the
Antidote to the Climate Storm? Within 6 hours the world’s deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes within one year.
the world’s power requirements. However, to exploit its great potential as a source of electricity, a number of barriers need to be overcome in order to win the race against climate change. By far the largest, technically accessible source of energy on
D
the planet is to be found in the deserts around the equatorial regions. The Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) has been designed to bring deserts and existing technology into service together in order to improve global security of energy, water and the climate. To this end they proposed that Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA) begin cooperating in the production of electricity (and desalinated water) using concentrating solar thermal power and wind turbines in the MENA deserts ... and so the Desertec concept was born. These technologies have the potential to meet
the growing demands for power production and seawater desalination in the MENA region, producing clean electrical power that can be transmitted via High Voltage Direct Current transmission lines with relatively little transmission loss to Europe (10-15%). From a political point of view then, implementing the DII initiative in countries like Australia, China, India and the USA, should be even less hazardous. The technologies necessary to realise the DII have
already been developed and some of them have been in use for decades. “All that is needed now is the political will and the right framework of incentives,” says Paul van Son, CEO of the DII GmbH. DII aims to supply carbon-free energy to the
producer nations and Europe through the deployment of concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. “Our international industrial initiative continues to grow, sending an important message to the energy and economic policy decision-makers. The aim of our concept is to strike the right balance between long-term security of supply, economic viability and climate protection. We, our shareholders and Associated Partners are working together to turn the Desertec plans into reality,” Paul van Son, CEO of the DII GmbH comments: DII has the potential to transform
the way Europe sources its power through a development partnership with North Africa. Under the DII concept, the goal is to provide 15% of Europe’s electricity needs by 2050 with electricity from clean solar (photovoltaic
worldPower 2010
eserts cover almost 25% of the world land surface. So to be able to exploit the immense power of the sun from these regions would surely make massive inroads into
By Guy Isherwood
and concentrated solar power) and wind energy sources in North Africa and the Middle East. This will require an estimated investment of € 400-500 bn (based on currently available analyses). The intention is to implement the DII project in a multi-phase approach with the industrial partnership focused on four areas: (i) Creation of a suitable regulatory and legislative environment for the implementation of DII.
(ii) Development of a roll-out plan for DII. (iii) Proposal of at least three solar and/or wind pilot projects, each with a capacity of 1,000 MW or more.
(iv) Commissioning additional feasibility studies to support an executable roll-out plan.
The Desertec project is a potential win-win opportunity for
The Desertec project is a potential win-win opportunity for Africa and the EU on a grand scale
Africa and the EU on a grand scale. Experts say that from an engineering point of view the project is sound. All processes, both the production of solar energy and the necessary long transmission routes are available and technically feasible. The first location for a reference
project for DII will be in Morocco. It is the best place to demonstrate just how the photovoltaic, solar
thermal energy and wind power technologies can function in concert. And Morocco already has a power supply line to Spain through which it is currently importing electricity.
107
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148