Sahara Sun To Solar Power Europe

A sustainable energy initiative that will start with a huge solar project in the Sahara desert has been announced by a consortium of 12 European businesses.

The Desertec Industrial Initiative aims to supply Europe with 15 per cent of its energy needs by 2050.

Companies who signed up to the $400billion (£240billion) venture include Deutsche Bank, Siemens and the energy provider E.On.

The consortium, which will be based in Munich, hopes to start supplying Europe with electricity by 2015.

Desertec Industrial Initiative aims to produce solar-generated electricity with a vast network of power plants and transmission grids across North Africa and the Middle East.

'The time has come to turn this vision into reality,' said the company's chief executive, Paul van Son. 'That implies intensive co-operation with many parties and cultures, to create a sound basis for feasible investments into renewable energy technologies and interconnected grids.'

The first stage will be to build massive solar energy fields across North Africa's Sahara desert, utilising concentrated solar power technology (CPS), which uses parabolic mirrors to focus the sun's rays on containers of water.

The super-heated water will power steam turbines to generate electricity 24 hours a day, 52 weeks of the year.

The electricity will then be transported great distances to Europe, using hi-tech cables that suffer little conductive loss of power.

The move was 'pivotal' in the transition of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East to sustainable energy supplies, said Mr Van Son.

Currently there are some small initiatives across Spain and parts of North Africa, but the scale of the Desertec initiative will surpass any other comparable projects.