In a marriage made in renewable energy heaven, the two most ambitious energy plans in the world have joined forces.
Today, Desertec and Medgrid signed an agreement to strengthen co-operation on building renewable energy from the deserts and the huge grid to move the power. Desertec, which a mere few years ago was just an impractical vision of a chain of power plants in the North African sun to power 15% of Europe. Now known as Dii (Desertec Industrial Initiative), Desertec now has 56 partners in 15 countries and is already beginning the financing on the first solar power plant in the chain in solar-friendly Morocco.
(Related: Desertec Begins: 500 MW Moroccan Solar)
And the smaller but complementary grid development project MedGrid has looked at how to export up to 5GW of power to Europe and now has 20 Mediterranean basin companies studying the practical grid needs of such a giant task, looking at technical, economic and institutional feasibility.
(Related: Could Israel Join Arab Neighbors in Medgrid?)
Today, Dii and MedGrid announced that they have signed an agreement to strengthen their co-operation on the development of industrial-scale renewable energy from the deserts and a suitable transmission infrastructure.
Dii CEO Paul van Son said: “The long term development of renewable energy from the deserts would be neither thinkable without tight co-operation with local authorities and industries in MENA, nor without close collaboration between Medgrid and Dii. I am happy that the European Commission and national governments are looking beyond borders to support our plans.”
And MedGrid’s CEO André Merlin added:
“The electrical interconnections are vital for the development of renewable energies in the Middle-East and Maghreb countries; they will make possible the export of a share of renewable electricity from the Southern countries of the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and thus contribute to their financing. I am therefore very pleased by the cooperation agreement signed today between Dii and Medgrid, and I sincerely thank the European authorities for their support.”
Image: Desertec/Dii CEO Paul van Son with the Vice Chairman of Egypt’s NREA (New and Renewable Energy Authority) comes by Green Prophet’s Tafline who was at the opening of the Kuraymat solar project in Egypt, one of the countries that will be involved.
Read more on Desertec and Medgrid:
World Bank Funds Massive Grid Expansion to Link Desertec with Arab World
How the Middle East Can Coordinate A Sustainable Agenda
MENA Is Fired Up For A Solar Boom
