Europe looks to Africa for its energy insurance policy

From DW-World.de

A fraction of the Sahara desert could provide enough solar electricity to power the planet. The problem has always been getting energy to where it’s needed. Munich Re, a leading reinsurer, thinks this can now be solved.

It’s one of the most ambitious green energy projects to date. It would harness the sun and space of the North African desert to power the kitchen appliances and factories of Europe.

The idea has been around for some time, but the German insurance giant Munich Re brought it one step closer to reality on Tuesday, announcing a meeting on July 13 in Munich to launch the so-called Desertec concept.

Up to 20 major German companies could take part in the project, including Deutsche Bank, the utility companies RWE and E.ON, and the engineering firm Siemens. Other German, Italian and Spanish companies are also on board, and have been invited to next month’s meeting along with representative of the German government, the Arab League and the Club of Rome think tank.

At a cost of some 400 billion euros – around half a trillion dollars – the project would be a colossal undertaking. Experts have estimated that an investment of this scale could cover 15 percent of Europe’s energy needs and be up and running within a decade.

“The project is very ambitious,” said Alexander Mohanty from Munich Re, “but our aim is to have something of a road map for Desertec within the next two or three years.”

The project foresees a string of solar-thermal power plants to be linked together somewhere in the deserts of North Africa, though no host countries have been named so far.

The plants would use mirrors to focus the energy from the sun’s rays to heat a special type of oil, and use the heat for steam to power turbines. The process is cheaper than the usual method of using photovoltaic cells, a common form of solar power, which converts the sun’s energy directly into electricity. In theory, a tiny part of Africa could power the globe.

“You only need an area of 300 kilometers by 300 kilometers to provide enough energy for the whole world,” says Alfons Benzinger of Siemens.

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