Thursday, July 24, 2008

Sahara solar panel farm 'the size of Wales' will power European cities



A series of huge solar panel farms in the Sahara desert could be the key to cutting Europe's carbon footprint, according to scientists planning to harness the power of the sun.

The ambitious vision is at the heart of scheme for a new £35.7billion supergrid that would allow European countries to share electricity from eco-friendly sources.

The solar panels would cover an area just smaller than the size of Wales and experts claim that it could supply the entire continent with green electricity.

The idea has been backed by Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The intense sunlight in the North African desert could produce up to three times more electricity than similar solar photovoltaic panels in Northern Europe.

Speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said that the panels would only need to capture 0.3 per cent of the sunlight falling in the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy requirements. ... - dm

I think this ideas scares the oil compaies. It will cost them billions, so perhaps they are the ones encouraging fears of terrorists attacking solar panel farms.

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