A German based group named Desertec with powerful financial backing announced its grand to build a network of solar power in North Africa to power the region and Europe. The plan makes sense on paper: use the significant amount of available desert land in North Africa to generate clean electricity and bring the two regions closer together in their relations. Desertec's plan is to use CSP (Concentrated Solar Power*) to generate electricity and transport the electricity through underwater cables to Europe. They will start with a smalle scale test project in Morocco and Spain that already have underwater cables connecting them. Critics are understandably skeptical at the benefit of the system with solar power currently only making up less than 1/10 of 1 % of electricity generation. Also the projected $400 billion price tag for the complete project by 2050 is steep compared to continued use of our fossil fuels. I am a proponent of research into renewable resource energy that will eventually make it competitive with nonrenewable sources. Morocco, which has the least oil reserves of any North African country and an abundance of sunshine, in my opinion, is the perfect place to start.
*CSP uses mirrors to direct sunlight heat onto water that heats the water into steam. The steam powers a steam turbine that creates electricity. This is an alternative technology to the more well known solar panels that use photovoltaic cells to directly convert sunlight into electricity.
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