Many see the Sahara Desert region as containing a great deal of energy that could expand into other parts of Europe. Some scientists calculated that 35,000 sq miles of the desert could yield the same amount of electricity as all the world’s power plants combined.
"I admit I was skeptical until I did the calculations myself," says Michael Pawlyn, director of Exploration Architecture, one of three British environmental companies comprising the Sahara Forest Project, which is testing solar plants in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Concentrating solar power (CSP) could be used to convert sunlight directly into electricity.
CSP utilizes mirrors to focus light on water pipes or boilers, generating superheated steam to operate the turbines of generators. Small CSP plants have produced power in California’s Mojave Desert since the 1980s.
However, the beginning costs to begin such a large undertaking could cost about $59 billion in order to begin transmitting the power by 2020, said DESERTEC engineer Gerry Wolff. Although if developed the Sahara could be the answer to many electrical problems across the globe.