Wow, the Desertec vision is barreling into realization! A clean energy future where the world's deserts supply huge amounts of solar energy to the whole of humankind is truly becoming reality. Now the fourth Desertec project, by far the largest-ever solar plant in the world - for 2,000 MW of solar power - is to be built in Tunisia.
(Previous stories: Desertec Begins: 500 MW Moroccan Solar in 2012, then MedGrid joined up, providing the transmission needed, with the plan to export up to 5GW of renewable power by cable under the Mediterranean between North Africa and Europe as early as 2020, and then most recently, the 3rd Desertec Deal Signed – Algerian Solar.)
How huge will this solar project be? 2, 000 MW is six times the size of the largest solar CSP project ever built
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We have listed 6 big and small solar-powered projects in the MENA region that have inspired us in the hopes that it will do the same for you. Big or small, solar-powered projects in the Middle East and North Africa are transforming our region. Not only do they hold promise of slowly improving air quality […]
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One high-tech polymer start-up has developed a coating to solve the problem.
The huge and visionary Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii)plan to ship vast amounts of solar to Europe has one glaring potential weakness. Dust. Deserts have all the sun that is needed to power vast cities, and recently, the 3rd Desertec deal was signed, but they also have dust. Lots of it. And little water to clean it.
Just one month's dust accumulation in desert conditions can reduce a panels output by 35%, and some even warn that water-intensive CSP is impossible for desert solar.
So developing dust-resistant solar will be the next Big Thing.
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Algiers will be the place to be for utility-scale solar developers next May. The German trade fair specialists Messe and their Algerian daughter company in Algiers will hold a solar trade fair at the Palais des Expositions d'Alger from 7 to 10 May, 2012.
As one of three North African desert nations now at the forefront of responsible climate legislation, through its ambitious solar plans and its participation in the visionary Desertec project, Algeria is ideally situated to host the event.
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Desertec takes third step to reality in as many months with Sonelgaz agreement Algeria‘s state-owned Sonelgaz has just signed the third deal in the MENA region to export desert solar power to Europe, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate with the European Desertec Initiative (DII) in the export of solar from the country, […]
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In a marriage made in renewable energy heaven, the two most ambitious energy plans in the world have joined forces. Today, Desertec and Medgrid signed an agreement to strengthen co-operation on building renewable energy from the deserts and the huge grid to move the power. Desertec, which a mere few years ago was just an impractical […]
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Renewable Energy professionals from Europe and Egypt (and Green Prophet!) took a field trip to Egypt’s first solar-thermal plant 90km south of Cairo! Brimming with the kind of energy that infuses a school field trip, roughly 80 professionals from the renewable energy industry packed into two large buses outside the Semiramis International Hotel in Cairo […]
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Looking deeper into the pitfalls and promise of Desertec at Dii conference in Cairo. Green Prophet’s Tafline is there and reports from the field. Instead of scrambling to find funds and legislative support for the Desertec initiative, a handful of people gathered at the Dii conference in Cairo to explore the project’s overall environmental sustainability. […]
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Desertec is a $500 billion solar project to catch Middle East and Africa sun. Tafline is currently at the Desertec Dii conference in Cairo, reporting from the field. Above is Dii’s CEO Paul van Son addressing the Dii conference Just two years ago, Desertec was merely a pin prick of an idea conceived to tap […]
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“Deserts get more energy in six hours than the world’s population consumes in a year” – TREC I remember when Desertec was dismissed as a wild idea that would never happen, just the pipe dream of the international network of scientists and engineers of TREC (Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation), who claimed back in 2006 that “mirrors could […]
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The free EneR event is a networking and investment platform for those interested in Morocco’s renewable energy markets happening later this month in Casablanca. Morocco is wild, yet for the average business or tourist traveler tame and safe. You can walk out of your riad in Marakesh and get lost in another time. Meander around […]
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Green Prophet is crossing the desert in a bus to attend one of the most important renewable energy conferences on earth. Green Prophet is heading across the desert to attend the second annual Dii Conference being held at the swanky Semiramis InterContinental Hotel in Cairo. Part of a concerted push to develop wind and solar energy […]
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University degrees in renewable energy are among the practical first steps towards realizing the visionary desertec program. A new university degree program is being funded with more than 3 million euros by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, and additional support from the Kingdom of Morocco, and the Eu. RE-Generation MENA will initiate […]
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Europe and MENA need each other. France gives Morocco some of the funds it needs to get its solar plan off the ground. Morocco has scorching solar ambitions, but fiscal limitations. King Mohamed VI made developing the country’s renewable energy resources a priority in 2008, when oil prices surged, and established a goal for solar […]
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Egyptian environmentalists urge officials to reconsider their plans to acquire 11 nuclear power plants. Egypt’s military intends to acquire 11 nuclear power plants. This comes soon after press reported that government officials expressed concern about a potential radiation leak at the Anshas nuclear power plant just outside Cairo. Though the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) […]
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