An industrial consortium launched preparations Monday for a possible future power grid under the Mediterranean that would carry solar energy from Africa to Europe.
An industrial consortium launched preparations 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 EUR8 billion.
As of Monday's launch, the group has assigned only EUR2 million to EUR3 million
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 Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) will lead the
consortium, supported by a dozen more major firms including France's Areva SA (CEI.FR)
and Alstom SA (ALS), Spain's Abengoa SA (ABG.MC) and RED Electrica Corp. (REE.MC)
and Germany's Siemens AG (SI).
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% of its needs.
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