For most any large scale region, there is considerable variation in annual incident sunshine so strategic investment becomes paramount:

Outside the US:

Spain:



  • Spain takes leadership in Solar Thermal Electric

  • Masdar City

    Other promising regions:

    Turkey

    North Africa



    Can you power the world from the Sahara Desert? In principle yes, in practice, probably not

    Land estimate in more realistic round numbers than other soures will use:

    • World Power requirement: 20 TW
    • Average annual solar irradiance: 1200 watts per square meter
    • Average annual PV efficiency in hot, sandy, desert environment: - 3%

      • 1200 * 3% = 40 watts per square meter.
      • 40 Watts * x = 20 TW; x= 5e11 square meters = 500,000 sq km = 700 x 700 km (or 10 7x7 km facilities)


      Sahara Desert is 10 million square km (9.4 million to be more precise) so this is 5% covering factor. More optimistic models get covering factors as low as 1% but so what, its still potentially feasible.


    The Desertec Plan (800M Euros)

    Production plus Transmission

    100 GW of Exportable solar power by 2050

    But by then the world, at current growth rate, will need about 10,000 GW





    However, bold ideas in this arena, usually collapse

    And Australia still wants to build this 200 MW Tower (1 KM High)