Instead of the current energy sources, a tiny rectangular solar paneled area in Sahara desert capturing 0.3 per cent of falling sunlight could power the entire needs of Europe.
Arnulf Jaeger-Waldau of the European commission made this announcement at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona. Solar farms can replace the polluting coal and nuclear power plants in Europe.
The European scientists are planning to have a series of huge solar farms producing electricity either via photovoltaic cells or by concentrating the sun’s heat in a solar collector to boil water and drive turbines.
The electricity can then be transferred across Europe with a new super grid using high voltage direct current (DC) cables. The same grid system will also transfer electricity produced in various countries like UK and Denmark, which have plenty of wind turbines and geothermal power in Iceland.
Scientists says electricity transmission loss in DC lines are far less than AC ones.
This grid proposal is backed by Nicholas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown.
If the wind or geothermal power is weak, the solar farms will back up the grid system and vice versa.
European scientists believe harnessing the electricity from Saharan desert will be more effective because the sunlight is more intense in the area. Solar farms in Sahara could generate three times more electricity compared to a similar farm in Europe.
Installing the solar farm won’t cost as much as building the new super grid across Europe, according to Jaeger-Waldau.
Scientists hope to generate 100 GW by 2050 with an investment of €450bn ($705 billion)
Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist told
Guardian:
Assuming it's cost-effective, a large scale renewable energy grid is just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change.
While the Europeans plan to harness 0.3% of sunlight, maybe they can harness a little more and power Africa as well. It is an ambitious plan but it deserves full support from Europeans.
