Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) leader Paul van Son assured Libyans that the project that plans to generate electricity from the Sahara will be a win-win situation for all parties. In an interview with the Tripoli Post, van Son said in response to a question about benefiting locals that, “I think it should be both ways, it's a two way street.”
His overall goal was to educate Libyans, and possibly set up an agreement that gets the North African country onboard. He said that the DII and the Libyan government had a verbal agreement to set up a workshop, organized by the Renewable Energy Authority, to “identify the needs and wishes of Libya.” The CEO said the countries in the MENA region were the owners of the energy. However, many are concerned that the project only aims to benefit the energy needs in Europe. van Son said: “We also explain to them that it's a sort of combination of European companies with knowledge and expertise and manufacturing facilities to exploit this energy for the local consumption. And then, if they like, for export.”
Similar to Desertec is France’s Transgreen project, which will set up electricity lines under the Mediterranean by building a network of undersea electricity lines to bring solar power from Africa to Europe. The first phase will entail feasibility studies to be carried out until 2012. van Son said that the project was very complementary to Desertec, and there could even be a possibility of both consortiums working together. He said, “We need the grid extensions, so if France wants to do this then we can work together. Personally, I know the executives very well; I have worked with them in Paris.”
However, van Son said that at first, Transgreen sought to imitate Desertec’s structure. He said, “But we said we’d work together; there’s so much work to do.”
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