More Firms Join Desertec Solar Project
Desertec – the ambitious $550 billion dollar project to generate electricity for Europe and North Africa through large solar collectors arrayed in the Sahara desert – took a step closer to reality this week with the announcement that the Arizona-based solar manufacturer First Solar had joined the project. (...) ”Five companies from Morocco, Tunisia, Spain, France and Italy will join the Desertec solar power project that aims to supply 15 percent of Europe’s power by 2050,” said Paul van Son, the chief executive of Desertec, in an interview with Reuters. (...) Critics have also voiced concerns that focusing on external resources could undermine efforts to generate renewable energy within Europe. ”The only reason to start this project would be because there is not sufficient potential for renewable energy at home. But this line of reasoning means lying about the renewable potential and is refuted,” said Hermann Scheer, a member of German parliament and president of Eurosolar, the European Association for Renewable Energy, when the project was initially announced last June.