Deserts can supply solar power

mercurial

mercurial

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Naiobi - Solar power from Africa's deserts could supply all 600 million citizens currently without electricity and even export power to Europe, a green energy conference in Nairobi heard Thursday.

The ferocious desert sun could provide the energy equivalent of 1.5 barrels of oil per square kilometre, said Gerhard Knies, project manager for Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC), at a meeting of nine African states.

"The largest source of energy is the solar radiation (and) the best place to receive solar radiation is the desert," he told reporters at the start of meeting of 20 parliamentarians in Kenya.

"Deserts get 700 times more energy per year than all human kind is using," he explained.
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Deserts also happen to have a lot of sand, and when that starts blowing it is like sandpaper on metal and glass. Wonder how they are going to handle that?
 
Garyvdh said:
Deserts also happen to have a lot of sand, and when that starts blowing it is like sandpaper on metal and glass. Wonder how they are going to handle that?
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I can see ways around that. Power is the solution to a lot of things.

One idea: The panels will "hold" the sand "down" where they are placed. In other words, the sand underneath a panel will not be blowing anywhere.
Now, you have power. Pumping water a few 100kms is now easy. What does farming need? Water and fertiliser. With this power, you have water - so have a few kms of farmland around the solar farms.

No more blowing sand.

Simplistic? Yeah. But power, and lots of it, can do wonders.
 
Moederloos said:
I can see ways around that. Power is the solution to a lot of things.

One idea: The panels will "hold" the sand "down" where they are placed. In other words, the sand underneath a panel will not be blowing anywhere.
Now, you have power. Pumping water a few 100kms is now easy. What does farming need? Water and fertiliser. With this power, you have water - so have a few kms of farmland around the solar farms.

No more blowing sand.

Simplistic? Yeah. But power, and lots of it, can do wonders.
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hhmmm, I DO like the idea, but am not convinced, if you have to use 50% of the power you generate just to protect and maintain your generating plants, then it becomes economically nonviable.

and no matter how many panels you lay down over the sand, there will be an edge somewhere and where there is an edge, sand can blow over it. You know what those desert sandstorms can be like... they can cover a football field in minutes.

And one more question, 1.5 Kilometers of panels equals one barrel of crude oil? But for how long? How long does it take to generate that capacity? is it per day?
 
Moederloos said:
One idea: The panels will "hold" the sand "down" where they are placed. In other words, the sand underneath a panel will not be blowing anywhere.
Click to expand...

Problem with that is a huge sand storm coming from an area where there are no panels.

I am sure it can be resolved though.

It is an awesome idea to turn desserts into something useful :D
 
Garyvdh said:
hhmmm, I DO like the idea, but am not convinced, if you have to use 50% of the power you generate just to protect and maintain your generating plants, then it becomes economically nonviable.
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Nope - the power is going to agriculture - something Africa needs more of.
 
Build the solar panels on pylons above the level of the sand.

The theory sounds pretty good, in particular that it is using old technology, which substantially reduces the cost of development.

Would be interested to know the costs of solar power using this method compared to the cost of coal generation.
 
Tassidar said:
Would be interested to know the costs of solar power using this method compared to the cost of coal generation.
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Also, keep in mind:
Coal is environmentally bad
Coal is often buried under arable land, or near population centres.
 
It's an interesting idea, but I can't help wondering what effect this might have on weather patterns, considering that deserts cover a pretty large % of the land mass.

It might have no effect at all, I don't know enough to say whether or not it's a valid concern, but I'd hope someone who does know has thought about it :)
 
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