Desertec

"Desertec" stands for the vision to generate electricity from renewables in desert regions. The high wind speeds occurring in coastal regions are ideally suited for producing electricity from wind power. The intensity of solar irradiation is highest in deserts and can well be used for solar electricity generation.

Electricity produced by solar thermal power plants is available day and night thanks to supplementary heat storage technology and is thus an ideal addition to the electricity fed into the grid from fluctuating renewable energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaics.

A low-loss high-voltage direct-current grid is to interlink these renewable energy sources over great distances and connect them with the consumer centres. This permits an economic, safe and sustainable supply with climate-friendly electricity.

For the EUMENA region (Europe – Middle East – North Africa), the DESERTEC concept assumes that by 2050 a major part of the power requirements of the local markets and some 15 percent of European electricity needs can be met by desert-based power plants.

But before large-scale solar power plants, wind farms and power transmission grids all the way to Europe are built, technical feasibility has to be investigated, political decisions made and the first reference facilities initiated.

To this end, the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii GmbH) was founded in October 2009 with the aim of establishing the required underlying conditions, enabling international trade with climate-friendly electricity and providing suitable incentives for investment.

The Industrial Initiative currently consists of 20 shareholder companies, among them RWE, and 35 additional partners from a total of 14 countries.