[Technology] Should we turn the Sahara Desert into a huge solar farm?

[portlock seagull]

Would you trust the worlds energy supply in the hands of a few corrupt African dictators?!


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This. Way too unstable a region to invest in. You’d never get the contracts signed between coups.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm sure if you covered all of the sahara, it would lower the temperature and in fact change the weather for that area. The cost would also be beyond your average oil rich arab country(who would prefer to sell you fossil fuel).
Another hypothetical situation would be hydropower, or wind turbines filling every available square foot of the atlantic....not cost effective. Have all the politicians of the world talk into giant balloons. The hot air most come out with could melt the polar ice caps.
How about sending satellites up to harness the suns power. The amount of copper wire needed could be another thing though.
Basically it all comes down to how much will it cost?

You’d actually only need to cover a small area as a percentage of the entire desert.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In Morocco this 3000 hectare site delivers 580 megawatts of clean energy.

That is about the same as a nuclear reactor output in the UK.

 

[A1X]

I think we'd need some form of solution for the security and other issues, maybe it involves the land effectively being owned by the UN on behalf of the whole international community? In theory though, it seems stupid that it's taken this long to do it, and it's not even started yet.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Other deserts are available throughout the world.

 

[father_and_son]

Of course not, which is why [MENTION=435]Stat Brother[/MENTION] asked "should we..." and, frankly, some good old-fashioned British imperialism is exactly what the world needs right now.

So let's go and stake a claim for the Sahara - what could possibly go wrong?

To paraphrase Eddie Izzard...

Brit: "This is all ours now!"

Bedouin: "But we live here!?"

Brit: "Yes but, do you have a flag?"

 

[nicko31]

In Morocco this 3000 hectare site delivers 580 megawatts of clean energy.

That is about the same as a nuclear reactor output in the UK.

Its politically stable and very close for the Europe inter-connect, more please....

 

[Stat Brother]

In Morocco this 3000 hectare site delivers 580 megawatts of clean energy.

That is about the same as a nuclear reactor output in the UK.

So how many power stations could they run with 580 megawatts of energy?

 

[Billy the Fish]

Would you trust the worlds energy supply in the hands of a few corrupt African dictators?!


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This is the problem, it'll just be the same as the oil wars all over again.

The US, middle east and Australia all have some pretty big deserts, would need to spread the love

 

[Robdinho]

Putting Europe's energy supply into one extremely fragile, outsourced basket would have a few security concerns as well I'd imagine

 

[rippleman]

Other deserts are available throughout the world.

Indeed. The Sahara wouldn't be a goer because of the ever changing dictatorships in north Africa and the fact that ISIS and other loony terror groups would be forever trying to blow it up.

So what about the Mojave in USA? Seems fine from a security perspective (Trump could just build a **** off great wall around it)

 

[GT49er]

Would you trust the worlds energy supply in the hands of a few corrupt African dictators?!

As opposed to a few corrupt Arab dictators, you mean? Fair exchange, I suppose......................

 

[GT49er]

Earlier myself and Lil Miss Stat were listening to last weeks Infinite Monkey Cage (Radio 4 science and comedy) about The Sun.

The snail guy casually mentioned:-

'If the Sahara desert was turned into a solar farm we'd have free energy in perpetuity'.

Point of order! One day the sun is going to burn out (though hopefully not in a timescale that will greatly affect any of us!)

 

[Acker79]

Other deserts are available throughout the world.

Are you 'all deserts matter'-ing this thread?!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Are you 'all deserts matter'-ing this thread?!

Ha ha, no. just think of less controversial areas.

 

[Stat Brother]

Point of order! One day the sun is going to burn out (though hopefully not in a timescale that will greatly affect any of us!)

The sun is currently halfway through it's life span.
I believe time is on our side.

 

[Pavilionaire]

If the Sahara is turned in to a big solar energy farm I expect FIFA to be all over it. Before you know it the 2034 World Cup will be awarded to football hotbed of Chad.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Always a closer option

 

[Mr Putdown]

This. Way too unstable a region to invest in. You’d never get the contracts signed between coups.

It hasn’t stopped the Chinese, their investments and contracts in sub-Saharan Africa totalled $299 billion from 2005 to 2018.

On top of that they have provided $130 billion in loans to African nations since 2000.

 

[Questions]

Point of order! One day the sun is going to burn out

Yeah then we’ll want our good old fossil fuels back. Bloody do-gooders