Name: Desertec Industrial Initiative
Location: Northern Africa, but intended to supply power to Europe
Year: Breaks ground in 2011-2012
Funded by: Consortium of large German companies
On July 13, 2009, a group of 12 different large German companies announced that they had formed a consortium called the Desertec Industrial Initiative. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding and established their objective as analyzing and developing the technical, economic, political, social, and framework for carbon-free power generation in the deserts of northern Africa. The consortium includes such large companies as Siemens, RWE, Deutsche Bank, and Abengoa Solar. Together, this consortium will fund the construction of a huge solar power plant in northern Africa. This project, nicknamed Desertec, is one of the biggest private projects involving renewable energy and is supposed to break ground within the next two years. Though it will take 10 years initially before the plant will actually be able to provide power, this plant supposedly will be able to eventually supply 15% of Europe’s power via the collected solar power which powers steam turbines. The plant also hopes to provide a substantial portion of the producing country’s power as well.
I think it is great to see companies forming together to take these steps on a larger scale. This consortium is clearly concerned about the current state of power supply, and hopes to eventually lead the entire world to a system of sustainable power.
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