- Development & Aid - Economy & Trade - Human Rights - Global
Governance - Civil Society Thursday, June 20, 2013 - When the
Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), an alliance of 21 major
European corporations, first unveiled plans to install a network
of solar thermal, photovoltaic, and wind plants across the North
African Maghreb region to generate electricity, the project was
greeted as a ‘green utopia’. Expected to generate 100 gigawatts
by 2050, the project demanded an investment of 400 billion
euros. In a study released last summer, Desertec predicted that
an integrated power system for Europe, the Middle East and North
Africa would allow Europe to meet its carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions reduction target of 95 percent in the power sector by
importing up to 20 percent of its electricity from the Maghreb,
thus saving 33 billion euros per year. Meanwhile, the project
would enable Middle Eastern and North African countries to meet
their own energy needs using the abundant solar and wind
resources in the regio