Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
tower, which appears bathed in a heavenly light, only generates around 11
megawatts, enough power for about 6,000 homes.
A far more ambitious scheme, called Desertec, has been conceived by
a coalition of mainly German companies to tap the solar power potential
of the Sahara and transport it across the Mediterranean to Europe. The
consortium behind the Desertec Industrial Initiative, which was launched
in 2009, believes that CSP arrays in North Africa and the Middle East
could provide up to seventeen percent of Europe's energy needs by 2050.
Crucial to the success of the scheme would be carriage of the electricity
via high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables, which lose less current in
transmission and are better for underwater transmission than high volt-
age alternating current (HVAC) cables.
Desertec is backed by German engineering, energy, insurance and
financial companies, which are keen to see their country's home-grown
solar expertise in more sun-blessed regions. The scheme has also been
taken up by European politicians on the look-out for promising partner-
ship projects with North Africa, which are generally rare. But although
the Desertec consortium does contain one Algerian company, there does
not seem to be much enthusiasm for it from North African governments,
which may see Desertec as undermining their oil and gas exports to
Europe.
What makes solar energy interesting is its versatility. It can be used
directly for heat without going through the intermediate step of being
converted into electricity, as wind power must be. But through the PV
process, solar energy can also be transformed directly into electricity
without the need for any big generating mechanisms (such as wind tur-
bines) or any transmission infrastructure. So solar PV is, theoretically,
ideal for use in the middle of cities and in the middle of the bush far from
any grid.
Moreover there are no laws of physics that make micro-solar PV
inherently less efficient than macro-solar PV, in the way that big wind
turbines with big rotor arms capturing faster winds are disproportion-
ately more efficient than micro wind turbines. So, solar PV has very good
small-scale potential, while CPS has large scale potential when it comes
to making use of desert areas that serve no other purpose.
