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Europe planning to make solar energy fields in deserts

Posted Dec 03, 2007 at 11:26AM by Isaac C. Listed in: Alternative Energy Tags: solar power, Europe, Solar Energy, solar panels, Africa
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Solar panels in Munich - Image 1


Someone finally found a practical use for heat-scorched deserts: use them to gather solar power. That's Europe's plan right now, and it's willing to expend GBP 5 billion (US$ 10 billion) to build solar plants in African and Middle Eastern deserts.

In estimate, scientists believe that solar energy can provide for 10,000 times the amount of energy needed that humanity demands, but this would need a massive amount of land. Well, what better land to gather sunlight than a desert?

Of course, the fact that heat-scorched land is cheaper than grassy knolls help a lot in the decision. The plan is to build the solar panels in desert areas and to transport this energy via undersea cables to the European Union member nations.

The whole program - called Desertec - although initially funded by Europe, will be taken up by banks, financial institutions and national governments and the estimated cost of the whole shebang is GBP 200 billion (US$ 413 billion).

There is still some debate over the cost of the system since solar power is more expensive than energy from fossil fuels and some countries may not opt for the switch. Some believe that eventual improvements will lower costs of solar power significantly.

[Via Guardian] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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