Copies of this
press release in PDF and MS Word format may be downloaded from www.trec-uk.org.uk/press.htm#press_nov_2007
UK Contact: Gerry Wolff, Desertec-UK, +44 (0) 1248
712962, www.trec-uk.org.uk
Clean
Power from Deserts for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa
Prince
Hassan bin Talal of Jordan presents White Paper to EU Parliament
The White Paper "Clean Power from Deserts - The Desertec Concept for Energy, Water and Climate Security" is to be presented to the European Parliament in Brussels on November 28, by His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, former President of The Club of Rome. It 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).
The White Paper proposes a solar co-operation
between technology belt and sun-belt, between Europe and the MENA
region, to
fight climate change "in an economical and technically feasible
way". Key
technologies in the Desertec Concept are concentrating solar thermal
power
plants with solar heat storage for day/night operation, and low-loss
high
voltage direct current transmission lines to bring clean power to
Europe from
the deserts of MENA. A seven year action plan for kicking-off the
Desertec
Concept will be proposed at the presentation.
The Desertec
Concept was developed by
the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) in
collaboration
with scientists at the German Aerospace Center. 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.
As
of November 29th the White Paper will be available as a
PDF file at:
Information for Pressmen:
Preliminary PDF version of the White Paper:
Press statements by His
Royal Highness Prince
Hassan bin Talal
and by the President of the European Parliament Prof.
Hans-Gert
Poettering:
November
28th, 12:20, European Parliament, Brussels
Presentation:
November
28th, 13:00 - 15:00, European Parliament, Brussels,
Room A5G3
Interviews:
November
28th, 15:00 - 16:00, European Parliament, Brussels,
near Room A5G3
Please confirm your participation to rebecca.harms@europarl.europa.eu
(if
you are not accredited to the European Parliament, please also
send
your name, date of birth and place of residence).
Further information and pictures:
Michael
Straub
Desertec Office Manager
Tel: +49 (0)711 - 67 52 999
Mobile: +49 (0)179 - 90 46 859
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November 2007
Concentrating solar power (CSP)—which is quite different from the
better-known
photovoltaics—is the simple but effective technique of concentrating
sunlight
with mirrors to create heat and then using the heat to raise steam to
drive
turbines and generators, just like a conventional power station.
CSP is a
practical technology with huge
potential
to supply Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EUMENA) with
plentiful,
inexhaustible and secure supplies of pollution-free electricity at
competitive
prices and on relatively short timescales:
■ Every year, each square kilometre of hot desert receives solar
energy
equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the
area of
hot deserts worldwide, this is several hundred times the entire current energy consumption
of the world (see also map overleaf).
■ The cost of collecting solar thermal energy
equivalent
to one barrel of oil is about US$50 right now (already less than the
current
world price of oil) and is likely to come down to around US$20 in
future.
■ It
is feasible and economic to transmit solar
electricity to the whole of Europe via a low-loss HVDC supergrid. But even
without the supergrid, the UK can start to benefit from solar power
from North
Africa via existing transmission lines. Reasons to build the supergrid include: increased security of
supplies, reducing
wastage of renewable energy, smoothing variations in wind power, and in
the
transmission of large-scale but remote sources of renewable energy such
as wave
power.
■ A recent report
(‘TRANS-CSP’), commissioned by the German government, provides detailed
projections showing how CSP,
with other technologies, can enable Europe to meet all
its needs for electricity, make deep cuts in CO2 emissions, and
phase out nuclear power at the same time.
■ A phase
out of nuclear power means fewer worries from this dangerous, dirty and
expensive technology (see www.mng.org.uk/gh/no_nukes.htm).
■ Solar
heat may be stored in melted salts so that electricity generation may continue at night and
on cloudy
days.
■ CSP
plants have been operating successfully in California since 1985. The
technology is described quite fully on the website of the US Department
of
Energy (www.eere.energy.gov/solar/csp.html).
■ CSP may
be used to generate hydrogen,
with many applications in a future
‘hydrogen economy’.
■ The TRANS-CSP report calculates that CSP is likely to
become one of the cheapest sources of electricity in Europe,
including the cost of transmission.
■ There is a range of techniques to ensure security of supply.
■ Plentiful
and inexpensive supplies of clean electricity from CSP would open up many interesting
possibilities for reducing CO2 emissions from transport and
buildings: electrification of rail transport, plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles (PHEVs) partly powered by green electricity, heating
buildings using ground-source heat pumps powered by green electricity,
and so
on.
■ Apart
from its enormous potential to supply EUMENA with clean energy, CSP
promises other major
benefits, especially in countries of the sun belt:
■ Waste heat from
the generation of solar electricity may be used for
the desalination of sea water. This can have a major impact
in alleviating
shortages of water, a problem that is likely to become increasingly
severe with
rising global temperatures.
■ The shaded
areas under solar mirrors are protected
against the harshness of direct tropical sunlight. They
have many potential uses including horticulture
using desalinated sea water. Thus land
that would otherwise be unproductive can be brought into
use.
■ CSP can become
a large new industry, providing jobs
and earnings throughout EUMENA.
■ Global
security:
■ By alleviating shortages of energy,
water,
food and usable
land, CSP can reduce the risk of
conflict over those resources.
■ A win-win solar
collaboration amongst countries of EUMENA can
help to improve relations amongst different groups of
people.
■ CSP, with HVDC transmission, can have a
major impact in decarbonising the world’s economy, providing large amounts of clean
electricity
in several different parts of the world. All of the US demand for
electricity
could be met from CSP plants in the south western states, all of
India’s needs
could be supplied from the Thar desert and all of China’s electricity
needs
could be met from CSP plants in sunny parts of China.
■ These ideas have been developed by the Trans-Mediterranean
Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) and in the ‘TRANS-CSP’ and ‘MED-CSP’ reports for the German
Aerospace
Centre.
■ Further
information, with links to those sources and others, may be found at www.trec-uk.org.uk.
