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Europe To Import Sahara Solar Power Within 5 Years
An anonymous reader writes "If just 1% of the Sahara Desert were covered in concentrating solar panels it would create enough energy to power the entire world. That's a powerful number, and the European Union has decided to jump on its proximity to the Sahara in order to reap some benefits from the untapped solar energy beaming down on Northern Africa. Yesterday, European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger announced that Europe will start importing solar energy from the Sahara within the next five years. It is estimated that the initiative will cost €400 billion ($495 billion). It's part of an EU goal to derive 20% of its power from renewable sources by 2020. From the article: 'The EU is backing the construction of new electricity cables, known as inter-connectors, under the Mediterranean Sea to carry this renewable energy from North Africa to Europe. Some environmental groups have warned these cables could be used instead to import non-renewable electricity from coal- and gas-fired power stations in north Africa.' To this the energy minister replied, essentially, 'Good question, we'll get back to you on that.'"
At least the minister's response quoted in the article is positive. The summary butchered it:
"This is a good question but not a question to destroy our project," Oettinger said. "This question must be answered by a good answer and so we need ways to ensure that our import of electricity is from renewables."
A large proportion of the Sahara desert is a rocky desert, so there are few sandstorms. Indeed, the technology used has been tested in US rocky deserts, very similar to the Saharan ones.
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
In the future I foresee a lot of the power generated by solar power in dusty countries being used by them to power desalination, rather than selling to rich countries who don't want to litter their landscapes. Water will be a bigger problem for them in the decades to come than lack of electricity.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
How does Africa already have a choke-hold on energy production?
Pay more attention. He didn't say Africa, he said unstable region.
Both Africa and the M.E. are part of one big, contiguous, mostly-Muslim unstable region.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
The environmentalists are right to ask the question, there are antecedents. In Europe (Spain in particular(Spanish)) there have already have cases of diesel power being passed off as renewable energy - they got caught only because they were arrogant enough to pass it off as solar energy... at night. If they had not been so greedy we would still be non the wiser, and the company get's to both sell dirty power AND collect on renewable energy subsidies. What's worse, nobody in the upper management or local politics has yet been prosecuted - halls of power protecting their own it would appear.
So the question the environmentalists are calling it right. If this happens IN Europe, what can we expect when it's over in Africa unless there are strict transparent controls put in place? One thing is certain: There will always be Companies that will do almost anything to make a buck - we need to ask and address how the system can be abused before we invest public funds into it.
NO. There is a very good reason they are asking this question. In Europe (Spain in particular(Spanish)) diesel power has been passed off as renewable energy. The company get's to both sell dirty power AND collect on renewable energy subsidies. What's worse, nobody in the upper management or local politics has yet been prosecuted for the massive fraud - halls of power protecting their own it would appear.
So the question the environmentalists are calling it right. If this happens IN Europe, what can we expect when it's over in Africa unless there are strict transparent controls put in place? One thing is certain: There will always be Companies that will do almost anything to make a buck - we need to ask and address how the system can be abused before we invest public funds into it.
we have messed with the people in that region in a hostile way for a long time: Crusades
Has everyone forgotten that the Muslims invaded Europe through Iberia/Spain 350 years before the First Crusade?
All of Europe would be Muslim if it weren't for a forward thinking (hack, spit, cough) Frenchman 1250 years ago.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
True, Arabic is the official language, but I have yet to meet a Moroccan not speaking French.
As per Wikipedia, it's the country's "second unofficial language": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco#Languages
The EU has bigger economy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
> If just 1% of the Sahara
>...suddenly reflected a hell of a lot less heat back into the atmosphere, you're going to alter the climate drastically
> -- which may well reduce the amount of energy you have to tap, as it's likely to cause a regional cooling,
> which may result in greater cloud formation. I'd want to see the climatologists study the proposal.
You don't need to be a climatologist to study that, high school math easily does it!
Cross section of earth: > 3/4 * (40.000km)^2= 1.2e9 km^2
Maximum area to be covered by solar cells in the desert for this project: 100km * 100km = 1e4 km^2
Increase in solar radiation absorbed by earth surface: less than 0.001%
(assuming absorption in area covered by solar cells is doubled, and not even considering the fact that it is visible only during the day)
Increasing the absorbed energy by app. 1.3% will yield a temperature increase of 1K (300K -> 301K, radiated heat increases by fourth power of absolute temperature), so the 10.000km^2 of solar cells in the sahara will increase the temperature of the earth by less than a thousandth of a degree centigrade.
The influx of money should raise the standard of living [in] those countries and it might encourage a different sort of economic growth than what we've seen in economies fueled by petrodollars.
What growth? Countries which get essentially "free money" often have shrinking economies . Whether they get paid for oil underground or sun shining on the ground doesn't matter. They don't become poor, but they end up importing everything because local labor is so unattractive an expensive. See Dutch disease etc., this was just recently discussed on /. in relation to the "trillion dollar ore miracle" in Afghanistan.
And these solar arrays are probably built by non-local companies, so no local know-how is rewarded. Then the states just get monetary compensation for maintenance work, not for fabricating anything. Now how to build a local economy.
No. I’ve seen the plans. It’s Siemens (biggest German tech company btw.), providing them with HVDC lines that go straight to some Pumped-storage hydroelectricity dams/seas in the north, so that it works 24 hours a day.
I haven’t thought about the shifting dunes. Apart from them, it’s a really good concept.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.