By Maggie Romuld

Ilya Rzhevskiy of The Epoch Times called it "the most ambitious renewable energy project ever conceived," it has also been called foolish, a fantasy, and a mirage. It has tremendous support, and just as much opposition. What's all the fuss about? The DESERTEC project, a grand scheme that includes setting up thermal solar power plants in the Sahara Desert of North Africa, and building a super grid of high voltage direct current (HVDC) lines to deliver the power from Africa, under the Mediterranean Sea, to Europe. DESERTEC officials don't expect the project to be completed before 2050, but they believe renewable solar energy from the Sahara could deliver up to 15 per cent of Europe's electricity.

Energy from the sun is used to produce electricity in different ways. Consumers are most familiar with solar panels, photovoltaic cells that capture the sun's energy and directly process electricity which is stored in batteries. This process doesn't depend on a central production point so it is very flexible; people can set up solar panels on the roofs of their homes and businesses and generate modest amounts of electricity for their personal use, or if the infrastructure is in place, can sell it to a local grid.

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology uses mirrors to harvest solar energy. Solar thermal power plants use carefully arranged sets of mirrors and magnifying glasses to reflect and concentrate the "un-scattered" direct sunlight found in deserts. The mirrors produce a powerful beam of light that is used to heat water to produce steam, which is used to drive turbines and generate electricity. The electricity is then transmitted and distributed through an electric grid or stored in special batteries to run the turbines through the night, allowing electricity to be generated 24 hours a day.

The DESERTEC concept is the work of the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) and the Club of Rome, an international group of forward-thinking experts who, according to Tom Pfeiffer (Europe's Saharan Power Plan: Miracle or Mirage), "suggests solutions to global problems." The companies involved in the project signed a memo of understanding in Munich this summer to begin developing the plan, although Siemens spokesman Alfons Benzinger recognized that "years of designing lie ahead before the mostly German promoters can address eco-political hurdles for the venture."

Germany has positioned itself as a world leader in renewable energy, especially photovoltaics, and of the dozen engineering, financial, and energy firms supporting the project, nine are from Germany, including Deutche Bank AG, Siemens AG, and Munich Re. Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation, Spain's Abengoa SA, and ABB of Zurich, the world's largest builder of electricity grids, are also part of the project. Some of the partners backing the plan are focused on the economic aspects, the potential to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and generate trillions (yes, trillions) of dollars worth of energy. Others, including Tom Pfeiffer (Europe's Saharan Power Plan: Miracle or Mirage), stress the environmental benefits suggesting that it will keep Europe at the forefront of the fight against climate change, "help North African and European economies to grow while complying with greenhouse gas emission limits," and "can make a significant contribution to sustainable energy supplies."

Opponents to the plan tend to fall into one of three categories: those who argue against the technology; those who worry about political instability in North Africa; and those who object to the cost of the project. Of those who debate the technology, some suggest that CSP is not yet fully developed, while others are in favour of more-established solar energy technology, such as photovoltaic cells because they feel that, in general, the world is moving towards decentralized generation of electricity and this project represents a step backwards.

Some opponents of the scheme fear that it would create a dependency on politically unstable North African countries. As it stands, the project would rely on co-ordination between the governments of several countries, some of which have strained relations with their neighbours or suffer from internal political unrest. Others see an unacceptable risk relative to potential expropriation of infrastructure by hostile governments or reneging on agreements. Opponents are also concerned that the project could be vulnerable to terrorism and worry that Europe could be left in the dark if power plants or transmission lines were attacked. Meanwhile, some countries have indicated that they are not interested in foreign interests exploiting their resources, and have already indicated conditions that must be met before they will consider joining the project.

The project has also been criticized for being too costly (estimates range from $500 to $775 billion) and opponents say the DESERTEC CSP technology is more expensive and has greater risks than the fast-growing patchwork of smaller-scale photovoltaic cell installations currently generating most of Europe's solar energy. Others say the transmission costs will be too high, suggesting that DESERTEC would need at least 20 HVDC cables (at up to $1 billion each) to send electricity to Europe (infrastructure associated with HVDC cables is more expensive to run than typical alternating current (AC) cables; however, HVDC cables are better at conserving power over long distances). Other arguments against the plan include concerns about Saharan sandstorms and water consumption issues related to cooling turbines and cleaning solar mirrors.

The DESERTEC concept has already generated heated debate throughout the world, and although the North Africa project is the one getting all the press, it would be misleading to imply that DESERTEC has limited their vision to North Africa and Europe alone. DESERTEC-USA suggests that the "American Southwest… ranks right alongside North Africa and interior Australia as the world's three best land-based areas for exploiting direct normal radiation to create clean energy," and DESERTEC-Australia proposes that Australia cut its coal-fired energy output and replace it with renewable energy, eventually redirecting excess energy to export markets. They also suggest that Australia could eventually lay HVDC power lines connecting Australia to Asia, and natural gas pipelines carrying Australian natural gas to Asian markets, to create a Pan-Asian energy superhighway. Stay tuned.