What's stopping us getting solar power from deserts?

Plans to use concentrating Solar Power Plants in the Sahara to generate and export electricity have been on the table for years. Now, it looks as though political will might help move things forward.

The logic of the idea would seem obvious to a child: the human race needs to wean itself off fossil fuels, so why don't we build solar power plants in the world's deserts, to give us all the energy we need? This concept has long been promoted by Desertec, a European network of scientists and engineers, which argues that just 1 per cent of the surface area of the world's deserts could generate as much electricity as the world is now using.

 

Desert solar power

Desertec envisages a massive deployment of solar technology in Middle Eastern and North African countries, exporting electricity to Europe. The vision may seem idealistic, but there have been signs recently that politicians and industry are starting to take the Desertec proposals seriously.

A recent Desertec seminar at the House of Commons was attended by the energy minister Lord Philip Hunt, as well as the Conservative shadow energy minister Charles Hendry and the Liberal Democrat shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change, Simon Hughes.

All three professed support for the concept, with Lord Hunt declaring, 'I am very interested in the work that you are doing.' Just words? Maybe. But Hunt promised that the Desertec will be seriously considered by the European Commission as it tries to make plans for future supplies of renewable energy for the whole region.

Taken seriously

The European Union is aiming to provide 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, and a much higher percentage by 2050. With this in mind, the European Commission has begun drafting the Strategic Energy Technology Plan, which will attempt to explain how renewable technologies can be made mature enough to supply a large part of Europe's total energy needs by 2050.

The SET Plan, as its known, is still in its early stages, but Desertec is part of the deliberations. Gus Schellekens, a director in the sustainability and climate change team at business advisors PriceWaterhouseCoopers, sees the SET Plan as a tentative first step towards the kind of European unity needed to make Desertec a reality.

The Desertec project would involve power lines being stretched across the desert and Mediterranean sea

Supergrid

A key part of the Desertec vision is for a 'supergrid' that can distribute renewable energy across Europe, be it hydro power from Scandinavia, wind power from the UK or solar energy from the Mediterranean states and North Africa.

In addition to building this supergrid, the European states would probably also have to agree a system of subsidies to make solar electricity imported from North Africa commercially viable.

'The SET Plan has the potential to be what's needed,' says Schellekens.

Next month he will publish his own report on the future of renewable power in Europe and North Africa, which argues that unified political support for Desertec across Europe is essential before investors will risk their cash to fund the building of solar power plants in North Africa.

'Unless you have the right signals coming from government level, you don't have what the market needs, nobody moves and no-one does anything,' says Schellekens.