Siemens Energy is supporting the Desertec Initiative to obtain sustainable power from North Africa.

Along with several other industrial companies, Siemens is supporting the Desertec Industrial Initiative. The objective of this initiative is to analyze and develop the technical, economic, political, social, and ecological framework for carbon-free power generation in the deserts of North Africa to benefit Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Apart from Siemens, 11 other companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Munich on July 13, 2009 to establish DESERTEC. These include ABB, ABENGO Solar, Cevital, Deutsche Bank, E.ON, HSH Nordbank, MAN Solar Millennium, Munich Re, M+W Zander, RWE and SCHOTT Solar.

The Desertec Initiative aims to meet 15% to 20% of the European power demand using solar and wind-based electricity by 2050. The potential of the deserts of North Africa is said to be enormous as the earth’s desert regions receive more energy in six hours than mankind consumes within an entire year.
In the Sahara alone, the sun shines 4,800 hours per year. It is thought that solar power plants covering an area of 300 km by 300 km could meet the worldwide energy needs. Countries such as Morocco or Egypt also offer excellent potential for utilization of wind power.

Siemens intends to offer a broad spectrum of its environmental technologies to harnessing this potential, including components for solar power, solar thermal power, and solar PV plants; wind turbines and high-efficiency power transmission technology

Electricity generated in the desert regions of the project would have to be transported over a distance of around 2,000 km to reach consumers in Europe.

To get around this obstacle, Siemens is proposing high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technologies. The company already has an HVDC project implemented in China, which involved the transmission of 5,000 megawatts (MW) of power from hydro power plants in the country’s interior to cities on the coast located around 1,400 km away.

HVDC transmission allows for 95% of the power to arrive at the load centers. Traditional AC lines would lose approximately 400 MW in transmission. The low transmission losses reduce the amount of CO2 released into the environment by three million metric tons per year.


- Katrice R. Jalbuena