Desertec - Projects

Projects

The Sahara covers huge parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and Tunisia. It is one of three distinct physiographic provinces of the African massive physiographic division.

First solar and wind power projects in North Africa already have started and countries like Morocco set up ambitious plans on the implementation of renewable energy. The Ouarzazate solar power plant in Morocco for example, with an initial capacity of 160 MW, should start construction in 2012.

In 2011, the DESERTEC Foundation started to evaluate projects that could serve as models for the implementation of DESERTEC according to its sustainability criteria. The first of these is the TuNur solar power plant in Tunisia that is planned to have 2 GW of capacity. Creating up to 20,000 direct and indirect local jobs, its plants include dry-cooling systems that reduce water usage by up to 90%. Construction is planned to begin in 2014, and export power to Italy by 2016. A video on YouTube is explaining this project.

Talks with the Moroccan government had been successful and the Dii confirmed their first reference project would be in Morocco. As a partner in a beginning partnership between Europe and MENA Morocco is especially well-suited since a grid connection from Morocco via Gibraltar to Spain already exists. Also the Moroccan government enacted a program to support renewable energies. In June 2011, Dii signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN). MASEN will act as a project developer and will be responsible for all important project steps in Morocco. Dii will promote the project and its financing in the European Union in Brussels as well as in national governments. This reference project, with a total capacity of 500 MW, will be a combination of concentrated solar power plants (400 MW) and photovoltaics (100 MW). The first available power from the joint Dii/MASEN project could be fed into the Moroccan and Spanish grids between 2014 and 2016, depending on the selected technology. Based on the current estimate the total costs are €2 billion.

In April 2010, Dii emphasized that the power plant won’t be installed in the region of Western Sahara which is occupied by Morocco. An official spokesperson of Dii made the following confirmation: "Our reference projects will not be located in the region. When looking for project sites, DESERTEC Industrial Initiative will also take political, ecological or cultural issues into consideration. This procedure is in line with the funding policies of international development banks."

In Tunisia, STEG Énergies Renouvelables, a subsidiary of the Tunisian state utility company STEG, and Dii are currently working on a pre-feasibility study. The study focuses on substantial solar and wind energy projects in Tunisia. Research will address the technical and regulatory conditions for the supply of energy in local networks for the export of power to neighbouring countries as well as Europe. Besides financing of the project will be analysed.

Algeria, which offers excellent conditions for renewable energy, is considered as a potential location for a further reference project. In December 2011, the Algerian energy supplier Sonelgaz and Dii signed a Memorandum of Understanding on their future collaboration in the presence of EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger and the Algerian Minister for Energy and Mining Youcef Yousfi. The focus of this cooperation will be the strengthening and the exchange of technical expertise, joint efforts in market development and the progress of renewable energy in Algeria as well as in foreign countries.

Since the Euro-Mediterranean projects, Medgrid and DESERTEC are both attempting to generate solar energy from deserts and complement each other, a MoU was signed on 24 November 2011 between Medgrid and Dii to study, design and promote an interconnected electrical grid linking both projects. The plan is to build five interconnections at a cost of around 5 billion euros ($6.7 billion), including between Tunisia and Italy. The activities of Dii and Medgrid are covered by the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP), a political initiative within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM).

In March 2012 Dii, Medgrid, Friends of the supergrid and Renewables Grid Initiative signed a joint declaration to support the effective and complete integration, in a single electricity market, of renewable energy from both large-scale and decentralised sources, which shall not be played out against each other in Europe and in its neighbouring regions.