DESERTEC is a concept proposed by the DESERTEC Foundation for making use of solar energy and wind energy. This concept will be implemented in North Africa and the Middle East by the consortium Dii GmbH, formed by a group of European companies and the DESERTEC Foundation. The DESERTEC concept was initiated under the auspices of the Club of Rome and the German Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC). Construction of the Desertec’s first 500 MW solar farm in Morocco is schedueled to start in 2012.
The DESERTEC Concept is mainly based on three studies conducted by the German Aerospace Center, which among other topics have analyzed the available ressources for renewable energies, the predicted demand for energy and water in EU-MENA till 2050 and the creation of an integrated electricity network between Europe and MENA. The studies have been commissioned the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and have been conducted by the German Aerospace Center between 2004 and 2007. The studies are MED-CSP, focusing on availability of resources and demand for energy in the Mediterranean area, TRANS-CSP, concentrating on the assessment of an interconnection between Europe and MENA and the assessment of solar energy imports, and AQUA-CSP, which analyzes the demand of water and the possibility to generate fresh water along with electricity by the thermal solar power plants.
The project of the realization of the DESERTEC concept in EU-MENA is developed by Dii GmbH, a consortium of European and Algerian companies founded in Munich and led by Munich Re. The project company is incorporated under German law. The consortium consists of the DESERTEC Foundation, Munich Re, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, ABB, E.ON, RWE, Abengoa Solar, Cevital, HSH Nordbank, M & W Zander Holding, MAN Solar Millennium, and Schott Solar. Press investigations point to a number of more interested parties – among them ENEL , Électricité de France, Red Eléctrica de España and companies from Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. CEO of Dii GmbH is Paul van Son, a senior international energy manager.
