Power for Europe from African deserts — What happened to Desertec?

Solar power from the Sahara — that was Desertec’s idea. German companies saw a billion-dollar business. But a dispute arose and the initiative silted up. But the idea did not die.

A small red square on a map of North Africa, a splash of colour in the middle of the Sahara — it didn’t take much more for the physicist Gerhard Knies ten years ago to cast a spell over both climate protectors and corporations: A desert area of just 300 by 300 kilometres is enough to supply the whole world with solar power.

With the box on the map, Knies, together with the Club of Rome, promoted a brave idea: Why not use this gigantic potential to generate green electricity for Europe?

Theoretical required area for solar collectors to generate the electricity demand of the world, Europe (EU-25) and Germany in solar thermal power plants. (Data from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), 2005)

Studies by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) should prove that this vision works. In the year 2050, solar power plants in North Africa and the Middle East could cover 17 percent of Europe’s entire electricity needs and also generate energy for local consumers, according to DLR researchers. This would require just 0.3 percent of the desert area. Direct current power lines could transport the energy to the north…