Clean Power from Deserts for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa

Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan Presents White Paper to EU Parliament

A concentrating reflector

Clean energy is available from the sun, a proven concept that needs no mining of raw material, no transporting of raw material, that creates little or no pollution.

His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, former President of The Club of Rome, will be in Brussels on November 28, to present a white paper to the European Parliament.

That White Paper is “Clean Power from Deserts – The DESERTEC Concept for Energy, Water and Climate Security.”

The White Paper is based on studies by the German Aerospace Center on the potential of deserts to supply clean power to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA).

To achieve this goal, the White Paper proposes a solar co-operation between technology belt and sun-belt, between Europe and the Middle East and North Africa region.

In the DESERTEC Concept, concentrating solar thermal power plants with solar heat storage allow 24 hour operation, utilizing low-loss high voltage direct current transmission lines. The aim is to bring clean power to Europe from the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa.

The timeframe for creating this system is seven years. His Royal Highness will propose an action plan for commencing the DESERTEC Concept at the presentation.

Concentrating reflectors

The presentation in the European Parliament is staged by four Members of the European Parliament – Matthias Groote, Vittorio Prodi, Rebecca Harms and Anders Wijkman – and by the Club of Rome initiative TREC.

DESERTEC is a concept developed by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) in collaboration with scientists at the German Aerospace Center.

See more information about the concept at: www.DESERTEC.org

Concentrating solar power

Dr Gerry Wolff is the coordinator of Desertec-UK and the Kyoto2 Support Group. He writes about alternative energy.