DESERTEC: Europe - Middle East - North Africa cooperation for sustainable energy

Kurzfassung

The DESERTEC concept for energy, water, and climate security was published by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) a decade ago in late 2007 in form of a whitebook presented at the European Parliament. Being as fascinating as resilient, it created big expectations and a considerable hype that was tangible in many international public and political discussions. Nevertheless, the original concept was lost on the way, when a multitude of experts and consultants started to speculate about a futuristic infrastructure called supergrid instead of concentrating on a concrete first point-to-point power line interconnecting a flexible solar power plant in the desert (provider) with a demand center in Europe (offtaker). The article at hand explains the original concept, diversions that lead to failure, and options to restart a concrete business case for a solar energy partnership in the EUMENA region.