EU's 2020 Energy Target a Step Closer
North African Solar Power Could Solve EU’s Renewable Energy Woes
Mar 22, 2009
When, in March 2007, the European Council at the EU vowed that member states would seek to generate at least 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, the declaration looked at best ambitious, at worst fanciful. Only three countries – Latvia, Sweden and Finland – have managed to achieve the target in advance of the deadline and the six biggest members – Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain and Poland – generate an unpromising 6 percent of their energy needs from renewable sources. However, their efforts are set to receive a considerable fillip with news that the searing sun of the Sahara desert might provide a panacea to all their renewable energy problems.
The 'Climate Change: Global Risks' Conference
At a conference hosted by the University of Copenhagen entitled 'Climate Change: Global Risks', Dr Anthony Patt, a scientist at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, described the technological advances that have meant storing and transporting stored solar energy over long distances has become both logistically and financially feasible in recent years. "There is a growing number of cost estimates of both wind and concentrated solar power for North Africa that start to compare favourably with alternative technologies. The cost of moving long distances has really come down,” he said.
Tilting at Windmills?
He went on to describe how a £50 billion investment by EU governments over a ten year period would allow member states to meet its 2020 target with something to spare. Indeed, Dr Pratt went on to say that in the long term "all Europe's energy needs" could be met with such a scheme. The delegates were described a project that would see uninhabited areas of Africa's Maghreb and the Middle East emirate of Dubai covered with a network of high-power solar panels. A plan was also mooted for a complementary installation of wind farms on the coast of North Africa.
Energy Freedom
The project is not only attractive in terms of cutting back on carbon dioxide emissions associated with fossil fuels, but would also allow EU countries to loosen the grip Russian gas and Middle Eastern oil has on their economies. Russia is wont to use its gas pipeline as a bargaining tool in its attempt to reel in its ex-Soviet satellites and oil prices have yo-yoed of late after Iran's intransigence over its nuclear aspirations.
The energy would be harnessed by using mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays on pipes containing water or salt. The water is then boiled or salt turned molten to make the power amenable to extraction. Unlike energy taken from other renewable sources, the water or molten salt can be stored for several hours, allowing it to be transported across continents.
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