Wind is not the greatest opportunity for renewable energy according to Nobel Prize winner Jack Steinberger.
He predicted fossil fuels, coal, and oil will be gone in 60 years, but the solution was not wind power. Wind power still requires backup power when the wind isn’t blowing, and that decreases its contribution to emissions reductions.
On the other hand, solar thermal power – where collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors and lenses to produce electric power and heat – is already economical and can handle the storage problem, he said. The heat produced can be stored, enabling solar thermal plants to produce electricity during hours without sunlight.
The idea is to link solar thermal power from Northern Africa to Europe via high-voltage undersea cables. The proposed 3- to 3.5-GW power plant would cost an estimated $32 billion to build. Steinberger believes that 80% of Europe’s energy needs could be met by solar thermal power plants in the Sahara by 2050.