Twelve companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Munich to establish a Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) to analyse and develop the technical, economic, political, social and ecological framework for carbon-free power generation in the deserts of North Africa.
The desertec concept, developed by the TREC Initiative of the Club of Rome, describes the perspectives of a sustainable power supply for all regions of the world with access to the energy potential of deserts. The founder companies of the DII, whose regional focus is on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), are: ABB, Siemens, Abengoa, ABENGOA Solar, Cevital, Deutsche Bank, E.ON, HSH Nordbank, MAN Solar, Millennium, Munich Re, M+W Zander, RWE and SCHOTT Solar.
Sustainable
Announcing its decision to join DII, Siemens has said in a release that environmentally friendly power generated at solar thermal power plants in the Sahara and wind farms in North Africa will be transported to the load centers where the power is needed.
"Desertec is a visionary project that can make a substantial contribution to sustainable power supply in the future energy mix," said René Umlauft, CEO of the Renewable Energy Division at Siemens Energy.
"The Desertec project unites sustainability, technological competence and visionary entrepreneurship – and precisely these features have been our strong points for more than 160 years. Siemens, with its broad portfolio of components for solar power plants, wind turbines and highly efficient power transmission, is the perfect technology partner for Desertec," said Umlauft.
Enormous potential
The earth's desert regions receive more energy in a mere six hours than mankind consumes within an entire year. In the Sahara, the sun shines 4,800 hours per year, providing the potential to generate clean solar power. As a comparison, this is roughly three times more than in Germany. Solar power plants covering an area of 300 km by 300 km could meet the worldwide energy needs. The Desertec initiative aims to meet 15 to 20 per cent of the European power demand using solar- and wind-based electricity by 2050.
Countries such as Morocco or Egypt also offer excellent potential for utilisation of wind power. Electricity generated in the desert regions of the Desertec project would then have to be transported over a distance of around 2,000 km from North Africa to consumers in Europe.
Siemens said such distances pose no problem for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technologies. An HVDC project implemented by Siemens in China, for example, involved the transmission of 5,000 megawatts (MW) generated by hydro power plants in the country's interior to megacities on the coast, located 1,400 km away. Thanks to this "electricity highway”, 95 per cent of the power arrives at the load centers.
By contrast, if traditional AC lines are used, approximately 400 MW would be lost during transmission, equal to the output of a medium-sized power plant or 160 wind turbines. These low transmission losses reduce the amount of CO2 released into the environment by three million metric tons per year.
The desertec concept, developed by the TREC Initiative of the Club of Rome, describes the perspectives of a sustainable power supply for all regions of the world with access to the energy potential of deserts. The founder companies of the DII, whose regional focus is on Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), are: ABB, Siemens, Abengoa, ABENGOA Solar, Cevital, Deutsche Bank, E.ON, HSH Nordbank, MAN Solar, Millennium, Munich Re, M+W Zander, RWE and SCHOTT Solar.
Sustainable
Announcing its decision to join DII, Siemens has said in a release that environmentally friendly power generated at solar thermal power plants in the Sahara and wind farms in North Africa will be transported to the load centers where the power is needed.
"Desertec is a visionary project that can make a substantial contribution to sustainable power supply in the future energy mix," said René Umlauft, CEO of the Renewable Energy Division at Siemens Energy.
"The Desertec project unites sustainability, technological competence and visionary entrepreneurship – and precisely these features have been our strong points for more than 160 years. Siemens, with its broad portfolio of components for solar power plants, wind turbines and highly efficient power transmission, is the perfect technology partner for Desertec," said Umlauft.
Enormous potential
The earth's desert regions receive more energy in a mere six hours than mankind consumes within an entire year. In the Sahara, the sun shines 4,800 hours per year, providing the potential to generate clean solar power. As a comparison, this is roughly three times more than in Germany. Solar power plants covering an area of 300 km by 300 km could meet the worldwide energy needs. The Desertec initiative aims to meet 15 to 20 per cent of the European power demand using solar- and wind-based electricity by 2050.
Countries such as Morocco or Egypt also offer excellent potential for utilisation of wind power. Electricity generated in the desert regions of the Desertec project would then have to be transported over a distance of around 2,000 km from North Africa to consumers in Europe.
Siemens said such distances pose no problem for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technologies. An HVDC project implemented by Siemens in China, for example, involved the transmission of 5,000 megawatts (MW) generated by hydro power plants in the country's interior to megacities on the coast, located 1,400 km away. Thanks to this "electricity highway”, 95 per cent of the power arrives at the load centers.
By contrast, if traditional AC lines are used, approximately 400 MW would be lost during transmission, equal to the output of a medium-sized power plant or 160 wind turbines. These low transmission losses reduce the amount of CO2 released into the environment by three million metric tons per year.
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