The solar initiative has been named Desertec and if it is completed, would be the world’s most ambitious solar power project.
Fields of mirrors would gather solar rays to boil water, turning turbines to electrify a new carbon-free network linking Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Electricity would be transported by direct-current cables running beneath the Mediterranean.
Supporters of Desertec, mainly German finance and industrial firms, believe it will keep Europe at the forefront of the fight against climate change and allow for industrial and economic growth within greenhouse gas emission limits.
The initiative was proposed by the Club of Rome, however it was not until the reinsurer Munich Re endorsed the project, that climate change officials have begun to see that Desertec may have a future.
“We have a special relationship with climate change,” said Peter Hoeppe, the head of Munich Re’s Geo Risk Research department. “It affects our core business, the insurance of weather-related natural catastrophes, which count among the most expensive losses we have to bear.”
The Sahara is an ideal environment for such an initiative as more energy falls on to the world’s deserts in six hours than the world consumer is a year. Cambridge University researcher George Joffe said the Sahara was an ideal location because it was close to Europe, sparsely populated and extremely sunny. “It would be mad to pass up this opportunity.”
Critics warn however that Desertec does not come without potential problems. Political problems in the Maghreb region, Saharan sandstorms and the risk to desert peoples if their water is diverted to clean dust of solar mirrors, are all potential issues that Desertec may have to face in the future.
Others warn that the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology behind Desertec involves greater costs and risks then other solar technologies such as the photovoltaic cell installations that now generate most of Europe’s solar energy.
Supporters of other solar technologies also believe that European governments, which already accept the risk of importing energy from North African countries such as Algeria, would give the choice opt for the security of producing renewable energy within their own borders.
Critics have reason to worry about the risks associated with setting up extensive infrastructure in a politically turbulent area. Maghreb states have tried and failed for two decades to integrate their economies and deepen their political ties. Desertec would need the cooperation of all regional governments in order to succeed.
Algeria has the biggest chunk of desert however is isolated and struggling to reform a Soviet-style economy after a brutal civil conflict in the 1990s. The Algerian government has restricted inward investment and says it will only work with Desertec if it allows partnerships between Algerian and foreign firms and a transfer of technology.
“If these conditions are not met, we are not interested”, said the energy and mines minister Chakib Khelil. “We don’t want foreign companies exploiting solar energy from out land”.
Desertec’s backers are optimistic that the initiative will in fact be a positive gesture from the developed world to countries of the Middle East and North Africa, which stand to suffer from the effects of global warming.
The initiative will allow for greater economic prosperity in an area that will be likely to see more frequent droughts and increased desertification.
This article was contributed to Celsias by Katherine I.
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