 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Paris (AFP) July 5, 2010 An industrial consortium launched preparations on Monday for a possible future power grid under the Mediterranean that would carry solar energy from Africa to Europe. The Transgreen group hopes that solar power farms planned in the Sahara desert will generate 20 gigawatts of electricity by 2020, and that a quarter of this could be fed into the European market. For this to happen, undersea cables will have to be laid, a project that experts estimate could cost up to eight billion euros (10 billion dollars). As of Monday's launch, the group has assigned only two million to three million euros to promote the technology and to study the feasibility of the plan. "These energy highways are absolutely essential," said France's environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo at the launch, underlining that European consumers could help offset the cost of North Africa's energy development. French-based energy giant EDF will lead the consortium, supported by a dozen more major firms including France's Areva and Alstom, Spain's Abengoa and RED Electrica and Germany's Siemens. The group's office will be operational by the end of the year. Transgreen's energy transport grid is to be developed in parallel with the Desertec project, a German-led plan to build a vast network of wind and sun farms across North Africa and the Middle East. Promoters hope this will provide the region with cheap, clean power and leave enough spare to be exported to Europe and cover 15 percent of its needs.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
APS Urges Greater Federal Investment In Energy Efficiency ResearchWashington DC (SPX) Jul 02, 2010 The American Physical Society, a leading organization of physicists, presses congressional leaders to increase research investments for future energy technologies that will strengthen energy security and reduce the likelihood of disastrous effects associated with fossil fuel exploration as evidenced by the BP oil spill. The Gulf oil spill - the worst in the history of the nation - has caus ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
