São Paulo – A daring project plans to transform the Sahara desert, in North Africa, into a source of solar energy supply to Europe. Twenty companies from Germany are going to establish a consortium, next month, to develop the project and explore solar energy in the region. Last year, the European Energy Institute proposed the project and the idea made headlines in Europe.
The plan, named Desertec, is aimed at feeding Europe with solar energy for a decade. There are already great names in the sectors of energy, finance and industry in Europe involved in the project, which is led by reinsurance company Munich Re, but new investors should be found, as the cost is estimated at US$ 400 billion. The objective is to generate cheaper and also cleaner energy for Europe.
The companies participating in Desertec have meetings scheduled for July 13th, in Munich, where the agreement should be signed. Apart from Munich Re, the group also includes Siemens, Deutsche Bank, electricity sector companies RWE and Eon. The meeting should also include representatives of the government of Germany and the Club of Rome, a non-governmental organisation formed by global leaderships.
Germany is already the global leader in solar energy. The country, however, does not have abundant sun, as does the Sahara. The project is aimed at building several plants for solar energy. The countries under evaluation are Morocco, Libya and Algeria. According to the European Energy Institute, if just 0.3% of the sunlight arriving in the Sahara were made into energy, it could supply the whole of Europe.
Despite the great acceptance among environmentalists, some energy specialists say that the cost of transport of the energy is not viable. The energy is captured by using mirrors, which focus the sunrays into water containers. The rays heat the water and make it into vapour. The vapour spins turbines and generates electricity without carbon emissions. It must then be transported to Europe through high-tension direct current lines.
*Translated by Mark Ament
