Dubai: European countries are mulling over plans to extract solar power from the Sahara desert as a source of renewable energy, leaving experts to ask why solar energy is not exploited in the Gulf, especially in power desalination plants.
The UAE has cheap land, cheap labour and construction incentives making it an ideal market for solar energy. There is more radiation here than in the Sahara desert making the Empty Quarter or surrounding desert better suited to solar energy, said Galal Osman, Vice-President of the World Wind Energy Association
"One square kilometre of solar power in the Sahara is equivalent to providing 1.5 million US dollars per year of energy, so if you have 100 square kilometres in the Sahara desert, which is 8 million square kilometres, you are creating a lot of renewable energy," said Osman.
State of the art technology now allows for such energy to be transported 4000 or 5000 kilometres economically, said Osman.
"Governments here need to be convinced that this is in their best interest. There is a pioneering mindset here so I believe it will happen," he said.
Osman added that developing the solar energy market in the UAE would also provide a lot of jobs. "In Egypt where I come from we have the same problem, a lot of graduates without employment.
But if you take the need for water here and the need to reduce pollution, the vast desert and the high number of unemployed graduates, solar energy can provide a lot of jobs and be used to power desalination plants," he said.
"We need to use our sun and develop the solar market and create jobs. Countries like Germany or Japan are doing it. This region is not thinking eco-friendly. Renewable energy can have a sociological input to the region," he added.
