Every year, each square kilometer of the desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts in Africa or in the world, this is several hundred times as much energy as the world uses in a year. What this means is that in Africa, countries like Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria can move directly from being oil-rich to being solar-rich.
Desertec Africa is an organization who’s vision is to utilize the untapped potential of Africa. Desertec looks to harness the huge solar footprint Africa has and transform it into usable energy. There is enough sunlight falling on Africa’s deserts to power not only Africa and Europe but the whole world as well. They aim to switch the continents non-renewable based economy to solar energy, which is clean and renewable. There are many benefits of such a program; one of the main benefits is that it would directly stimulate struggling economies such as Nigeria and Chad and others. The project is based on utilizing an area that receives at least 2000 kWhs of sunlight per m2 and other stringent requirements. Once a location is deemed suitable, solar power plants would be installed based on existing CSP solar technology.
Excerpts and courtesy of Desertec-Africa
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