Renewable+power+plant+systems

There has been much conjecture on implementing renewable energy sources, especially concentrated solar power (CSP), to power desalination plants while meeting local energy needs [6,7,9,10]. For MENA, utilizing CSP technology in a co-generation process can be extremely economical. The heat and electricity created in the CSP process can both be used in desalination facilities and the energy created from the solar plant can power the local area [9]. Additionally CSP plants provide energy without the same emission concerns of fossil fuel powered plants nor the military concerns attributed to nuclear power, and the feedstock energy source is not finite. Some have cited energy production as high as 120-1000 GW by 2050 by MENA CSP alone [6,7,9], a significant amount of which could be exported. Financial obstacles are a major concern; nonetheless the Desertec project (desertec.org) aims to create 100 CSP stations along MENA shores to provide a significant amount of this power [7]. There are already transcontinental power connections in place between Europe and North Africa such as the Maghreb-Europe along with pipelines such as the Medgaz, Trans-Mediterranean and Greenstream [11] (Seen below, from Wikipedia[12]). These lines have only recently (<20 years) been created because prior technology had not made it feasible or economical.



Plans like utilizing the MENA countries include not only solar power nor only MENA coastlines. They incorporate numerous renewable energies including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass, and tidal, each located at areas throughout Europe and MENA nations depending on local climate and conditions, as seen below (from DLR [8])



(Taken from Desertec [13])

Both of the above ideas attempt to use locally sourced, prevalent, easily accessible renewable energy sources and connect the energy created at these locations into a transnational matrix. As stated previously the CSP technologies are ideal for co-generation with desalination plants and thus aptly suited for the MENA nations. Their excess energy can be transmitted to Europe which can be largely run by a mix of renewable technologies in addition to the their MENA imports. Having such a mix of technologies allows the grid to optimize and increase the overall achievable renewable share of power generation. For example, if the sun isn't shining there will likely still be power available from wind, hydropower, biomass and geothermal sources to compensate for some of the climate variability [14], creating a renewable energy matrix that is much more consistent than current systems.