A Follow Up On The Desertec Project In Maroc

The British newspaper mentions that the work currently happening in a hybrid power plant in which 6000 mirrors (each up to six meters) figure in the desert near the Egyptian city of Beni Suef, will soon deliver the 1/7 of the 150 MW capacity expected.

The Guardian presents the German physicist Gerhard Knies, who after the Chernobyl disaster, has considered the possible contribution of solar energy needs of humanity. His conclusion back in 1986 was that the quantity of energy received during six hours by the deserts of the world is largeer than the total energy consumption by humanity in any year. Also, capturing even a tiny fraction of this energy would enable us to abandon fossil and dangerous fuels. An area as large as the Sahara of Wales (21,000 km2) can supply, in theory, the entire Europe continent.

Gerhard Knies's work led to the Desertec project, which aims by 2050 to produce 15% of the electricity consumed by Europe, via a large network of solar parks and wind turbines across the Mediterranean, connecting continental Europe countries of North Africa and the Middle East by high-voltage cables. The total cost of this project is estimated at 400 billion euros.

Siemens And E. ON Are Among The Supporters Of Desertec

Desertec got the support of several very large German financial and industrial companies during the last two years such as E. ON, Munich Re, Siemens and Deutsche Bank, which formed the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii).

Morocco Plans To Double Its Power Consumption

The Guardian quotes that a member of the Moroccan Agency for solar energy indicates that by 2020, Morocco plans to double its electricity consumption.

Morocco, which is a country that’s 97% dependent on foreign energy, now, plans to move towards 42% of self-sufficiency of electricity thanks to renewable energy by 2020.

Projects on a smaller scale also exist on the export of renewable energy. On May 11, the French Minister of Industry, Eric Besson, announced that France and Morocco will launch the first experimental solar power from south to north of the Mediterranean. And Greece, the financial and political turmoil, has ongoing discussions with Germany to sell their solar energy.

Basma – Green Energy International Correspondent – 16/12/11