Some say it is the solution to climate change, to harvest the power of sunlight, which is an abundant source of free energy. Should we go ahead and put solar panels throughout the Sahara desert? This is a topic the baffles experts today.
Expert Gerhard Knies shares his knowledge towards the topic and explain how this can benefit us in generations to come. Gerhard is co-founder of TREC, a network of experts on sustainable energy that gave rise to the Desertec Initiative, which will aid to provide Europe with clean and free energy from the sun.
The idea came to him 15min after the nuclear accident in China where in he made and assessment of how much energy comes from the sun to the earth. It was about 15,000 times as much energy as humanity was using to date. It was not anymore a question of the source but a question in technology.
This breakthrough can solve the industrial vulnerability problem of our civilization, and at the same time, the climate vulnerability as well. He dived into a solution to look for amplifiers, getting information from experts in Rome, North Africa, Jordan and the Middle East. They were able to come up with the right numbers to keep the project going and were able to get support from Greenpeace and several scientific institutions and big companies.
Gerhard Knies says, "The Desertec Initiative was made to study the plan from the angle of industry and see if they find flaws or if everything was right to pave the way for investments, but not to do the investments."
Phase two of the plan is called Desert Energy Industrial Initiative, where they will organize the implementation of the plan and will be the beginning to this entire project.
Another great contributor to this plan is Tony Patt, a professor of climate policy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Patt also leads the research for the European Research Council on whether the Saharan sun could power Europe.
The technology for the project is already there and will be able to store power around the clock. Much like how Boston gets a huge amount of electricity from northern Quebec, via a single power cable that stretches about 1000 miles away, the same technology will hopefully be implemented in the project. Patt says, "this is easy to build as long as you get political approval from all the jurisdictions your going through."
The biggest pitfall the project will be facing it a political complication, solar energy in the Sahara can be developed unless you have a very strong state involvement both on the side of consumers and project developers. Solar electricity is said to be a little bit more expensive than electricity from fossil fuel. Germany is said to have been a leader in taken vast steps to support solar energy, but that was tied to building it with Germany, creating more jobs for the people.
