Environmentalists' dreams of a 100 percent renewable energy future are beginning to take shape in the deserts of the Middle East, according to leading industry experts. In an ambitious €400 billion plan, a pan-continental electricity supergrid powered by a chain of solar farms in the Arabian Gulf and North Africa would be linked to hydro-electric plants in Scandinavia and the European Alps, onshore and offshore wind farms in the Baltic and North Sea, along with marine energy and biomass power facilities. The Desertec plan by a consortium of European governments, non-governmental organizations and industrial corporations to provide 15 percent or more of Europe and the Middle East's electricity needs with solar power by 2050 is on a truly dramatic scale," said Anita Mathews, exhibition director of Middle East Electricity, the region's largest trade show for the power and energy sector now in its 36th year. The main focuses of Middle East Electricity include power generation, transmission and distribution; commercial, industrial and residential lighting; water; as well as new, renewable and nuclear energy. A map of Desertec's plan shows a chain of solar power plants throughout the Arabian Gulf linked by the supergrid to the rest of the Middle East and North Africa and into southern Europe. “The Desertec initiative has given itself three years to set up a policy framework within the European Union and the Middle East and North Africa to adequately fund and transport renewable energy from the desert to Europe. The biggest challenge, however, will be to secure the subsidies that will be necessary to allow renewable energy to become cost-competitive to fossil fuels," said Mathews.
