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Deserts to Power The World

A bold plan to power the world from areas of desert will be discussed next week at a conference of experts in Hanover. Electricity may be generated in those areas using the simple proven technique of 'concentrating solar power' (CSP). This means concentrating sunlight using mirrors and using the resulting heat to create steam to drive turbines and generators, just like a conventional power station. Solar electricity may be transmitted to where it is needed using highly-efficient 'HVDC' transmission lines.

"These technologies are well-established and ready to use now" said Dr Gerhard Knies, coordinator of the 'TREC' international network of scientists and engineers that have developed this 'DESERTEC' plan. "The potential is absolutely colossal. In principle, all of the world's energy needs could be met from a small portion of the world's deserts, although it would be sensible to develop other sources of renewable energy as well."

At the Energy Forum in the Hanover Fair, an international panel of experts will discuss how the production and installation of CSP plants may be ramped up to supply 10,000 gigawatts of power - about half the electricity that the world will be using in 2050. "Allowing for the time needed to get things moving, the world will need to be installing about 1 gigawatt of solar collector capacity every day" said Dr Knies.

"We have the technical know-how and the industrial capability." said Dr Knies "With the right framework of incentives, there will be no shortage of investors to fund these developments. Inexhaustible sources of energy like CSP are on their way to becoming cheaper than energy from dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. The main thing that is missing at present is an understanding of how urgent it is to replace dirty and dangerous sources of power with clean and safe sources like CSP."

Notes

Key facts:

Every year, each square kilometre of desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts worldwide, this is several hundred times the entire energy consumption of the world.

The key technology for tapping in to this cornucopia is the simple proven technique of "concentrating solar power" (CSP): using mirrors to concentrate sunlight to create heat and then using the heat to raise steam to drive turbines and generate electricity, just like a conventional power station. Solar heat can be stored so that electricity generation can continue at night or on cloudy days.

Using CSP, less than 1% of the world's deserts could generate as much electricity as the world is currently using.

It is feasible and economic to transmit solar electricity for 3000 km or more using highly-efficient 'HVDC' transmission lines.

It has been calculated that 90% of the world's population lives within 2700 km of a desert and could be supplied with solar electricity from there.

Further information:

There is more information in the attached file.

The Energy Forum will be held at the Hanover Fair on the 23rd and the 24th of April 2008. The programme for the Forum may be seen at http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/resources/forum_10000_solargigawatts_prg2_2008.pdf.

The website for the Hanover Fair is at http://www.hannovermesse.de/homepage_e.

These DESERTEC proposals are underpinned by research at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). The 'TRANS-CSP' and 'MED-CSP' reports about the DESERTEC concept may be downloaded via links from http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/reports.htm.

The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) is an initiative of the Club of Rome. More information about TREC and the DESERTEC concept may be found at http://www.desertec.org/ and at http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/.

There are pictures of CSP plants at http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/pictures.htm.
CSP projects around the world may be seen on Google Earth via a link from http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/resources.htm#CSP_GE .

Contact

German Association CLUB OF ROME
Am Sandtorkai 62
20457 Hamburg - Germany

Dr. Gerhard Knies
DESERTEC Project Director
Gerhard.Knies@ClubOfRome.de
Tel. : +49 (0)40 - 86 63 154
Mobile: +49 (0)170 - 52 86 631

Tags: Environment, Oil, Gas and Energy,

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