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Simon

By Simon •

£50bn investment needed for the proposed supergrid between Africa and Europe to become a reality

New findings from Dr Anthony Patt of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Africa shows that the proposed supergrid that could power all of Europe with renewable energy only would need around £50 billion of government funded money to become a reality.

The £50 billion government investment would, according to Patt, convince private companies that the supergrid idea is both "feasible" and "attractive", the Guardian reports.

"In the long term, such a plan, combined with strings of windfarms along the north Africa coast, could "supply Europe with all the energy it needs".

He said technological advances combined with falling costs have made it realistic to consider north Africa as Europe's main source of imported energy.

"The sun is very strong there and it's very reliable. There is starting to be a growing number of cost estimates of both wind and concentrated solar power for North Africa....that start to compare favourably with alternative technologies. The cost of moving [electricity] long distances has really come down."

According to Patt only a small fraction of the Saharan desert would be needed to produce enough energy for the whole of Europe.

Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission’s Institute for Energy have said that the solar energy from the Saharan desert would be cheap and “below what the average consumer is paying:”

“The biggest PV system at the moment is installed in Leipzig and the price of the installation is €3.25 per watt. If we could realise that in the Mediterranean, for example in southern Italy, this would correspond to electricity prices in the range of 15 cents per kWh, something below what the average consumer is paying.”

So what are we waiting for!?

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Guest crazyspaierd

Guest crazyspaierd

Posted

Renewable energy is the future for the sustainability of the enviroment and the interaction that humans have with it. People had it heard lots of time, but it can perfectlly be possible in the present if the wake up and reduce the use of nonrenawable resources. The seting North Africa, can't be better it would not only produce energy for Africa but also it would generate al ot of jobs and it would suppose a great investment and advance on Africa's economy. Instead of donating money to the goverment, to avoid corruption, African enterprises should recieve loans to create and develop the technology. The Europeeans can buy off the energy from Africa, this would eventually rise the awareness from Europeean countries of how important green energy is and would start to invest on money on it. The pocess would take long and £50bn investment but it would pay off in a short term. Some people oposse to his measures because they disturb the enviroment and landscape but the soil and enviroment is studied before hand to see if it's harmless. Within time as has happen in Spain with wind mills people start accepting them because of the energy they end up generating alot of money and clean energy wich builds up an concience in the populations' mind

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