Algeria To Explore Solar Power With New Plant

Located between the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, Algeria is an ideal location to soak up a bit of sunshine. But for an economy dominated by oil and gas exports, Algeria's move towards new solar power is an unexpected one.

• Plans for Algeria’s new solar power plant, will one day see it feed into one of the world’s most extensive grids, established by the Desertec Foundation.
• The Algerian government recently signed an agreement with the German Solar Energy College, for the formation of the Algerian-German Center for Training and Technical Platform for High Temperatures.
• The German institute is currently experimenting with what it calls a solar tower. Temperatures of up to 1292F are generated by 2000 mirrors arranged to reflect sun rays to a ceramic receiver on top of the tower; the resulting heat is then used to generate electricity.
• “I myself got involved because I was excited by the potential of electricity from deserts pioneered by the late Nobel-prizewinner and president of The Royal Society (Lord) George Porter. That was in the mid-1980s,” Dr John Hemming, one of the founders of Desertec, told The Media Line.
• The guiding principle of Desertec is that in six hours, deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes in a year.
• “With no emissions, it is totally clean environmentally. Once harnessed, solar energy is almost limitless. It needs no expensive and finite raw materials (oil, gas, coal, uranium) and has no radioactive or carbon-laden waste to dispose of,” Hemming said when pointing out some of the benefits of solar power.
• Once completed, Desertec will deliver power harvested in the deserts of North Africa to the steadily growing markets of sustainable energy in Europe.
• The idea of the network came from the Swiss think tank, the Club of Rome. On July 13, twelve European utility companies and banks signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of developing the technical, environmental and political framework for carbon-free power generation in the deserts of North Africa.
• By the end of August its membership will include experts from Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia in North Africa to Iran, Jordan and Dubai in the Middle East. Among the European countries represented are France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
• “Close cooperation between EU and MENA, is key for the economic and physical survival of the whole region. It is vital for the introduction of renewable energy to the market, and the interconnection of electricity grids.” a statement from Desertec said.
• While producing the electricity is relatively simple with today’s solar technology, finding a cheap and environmentally friendly way of transferring the power from its source in North Africa to its consumers has proved more problematic.
• Ironically, as Desertec itself notes, current transmission solutions are dependent on fossil fuels such as oil and gas, or nuclear generated power.
• How to transport the electricity is just one of the problems facing the Desertec projects, which recently valued at $573 billion.
• While both Algeria and Morocco have expressed an interest in taking part in the project, the border between the two countries is closed pending a dispute over Western Sahara.
• A territory about the size of Colorado was annexed by Morocco in 1979. Algeria on the other hand is home not only to 102,000 Western Saharan refuges but also to the Polisario Front, the largest Western Saharan political party string for independence.
• In addition, there is the growing threat of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb regional branch. On the June 17, 24 Algerian soldiers were killed when escorting a convoy of Chinese construction workers building a highway from the capital Algiers to Mansoura in central Algeria.
• For all those involved, protecting the infrastructure and future of the project will take more than a bit of sunshine.