Transcript Large-Scale Solar Desalination

Re-greening the
Sahara…
…using renewable
energy for
desalination
Incoteco (Denmark)
ApS
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The Sahara
Just 5000 years ago, most of this was a great grass
land, supporting a wide variety of life.
Archeological remains show that much of the area
that is now desert once supported great cities
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Climate Change wasincoteco
rampant...
Carthage was
not built for its
desert views!
....causing the great drought and the formation of the desert
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CONTEXT - technical
There has been a considerable increase
in efficiency and reduced specific cost
during last 15 years of:
 Wind energy
 photovoltaics
 seawater desalination, especially
reverse osmosis
 arid land agronomy
Market value of fossil fuel has risen
by factor of 3 since 2000
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CONTEXT Environmental
World-wide increase of:
 Atmospheric CO2 has increased from
280 to 370 ppm in last 50 years
 Desertification, continuing 5000 year
old trend
 Population rises to 9 billion by 2020
 Water shortages
 Loss of arable land
Low cost oil and gas depletion
makes renewables competitive
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CONTEXT - Political
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 Potentially lethal pressure caused by a
growing population in Africa and lack of:
– industry
– Water, exacerbated by frequent drought
– Affordable, non-polluting energy
– Arable land
– Food
 “Keep-out” mind set of developed nations
towards the misery and poverty of Africans
Parallel problems exist in other
desert regions, eg Mexico/USA
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Context - Resources
 Thousands of miles of undeveloped littoral,
close to over-developed Europe
– For tourism
– Agriculture
– Fish farms
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Large and growing population
Unique solar resource
Lots of wind, some of it excellent
Some oil wealth
Shared cultures and language
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Re-green the Sahara
Why Not?
The Arabian Peninsula,
once green can also
be re-greened
Starting around the cities, aim to deliver more
renewable energy, balanced by existing fossil plants
and the increasing use of desalination.
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...as renewable capacity
builds up...
Links with Great
man-made river
...link fertile strips with a common grid,
deepen into desert
Inter-connect North African power grid and export
CO2-free energy to Europe thro’ Spain and Italy
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Economic Returns
Wealth is created by:
 Tourism
 Real estate appreciation
 Agriculture and aquaculture
 Food processing
 Sale of CO2-free power to Europe
 Industrial development
 Export of know-how to other arid regions
 Etc., etc.
Region becomes economically attractive
and growing
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A PROPOSAL
This proposal must be driven by Africans
for Africans
 Each nation to be responsible for
financing and developing its own
solutions
 Employ the widest possible range of
technical solutions
 From all over the Globe
Seed capital supplied from oil revenues?
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Proposal - Moving Forward
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Present concept to regional leaders
...who can commission a...
...Preliminary study – 6 to 12 months
This is presented to Regional
Governments who pass enabling
legislation that allows...
5. ...privately financed development
groups to realise early projects
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