Europe thinks big on solar Sahara

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Mark Osborne
Mark Osborne
Mark Osborne is currently the Senior News Editor for Photovoltaics International and PV-Tech website. He has launched multiple technology titles in print and online covering manufacturing in the automotive, shipping, semiconductor and solar sectors in a publishing career spanning three decades. Mark started blogging in 2005, the first technology editor to do so and has worked online since 1996. A veteran manufacturing technology journalist and editor, Mark has been responsible for a series of innovative formats for delivering technical content to an engineering-based audience.

Reports from the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona have once again focused on the potential of the Sahara desert region to produce ALL the electrical energy needs of Europe if a mass concentration of solar technology was to be established there.

Scientists estimate that at a cost of approximately €450 billion, electricity could be produced at 15 cents per kWh. A super DC current grid would connect the Sahara to Europe, reducing transmission losses significantly.

Although not a new plan, one wonders if Europe has the will and the way to ever see such a project through to reality. Perhaps the fact that such a project gets mainstream news coverage is good enough, as this can only boost public awareness.

However, PV projects on a local level will soon (2012-14) reach grid parity in many parts of Europe as the cost-per-watt reductions continue unabated. By then, such a grand scheme may be seen as too costly and not in the best interests of European countries.

Green energy independence rather than green energy dependence could still prove to be the most compelling reason for such a scheme remaining on the drawing board.

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