Country | Economic potential (TWh/y) |
Coastal potential (TWh/y) |
---|---|---|
Algeria | 169 000 | 60 |
Libya | 140 000 | 500 |
Saudi Arabia | 125 000 | 2 000 |
Egypt | 74 000 | 500 |
Iraq | 29 000 | 60 |
Morocco | 20 000 | 300 |
Oman | 19 000 | 500 |
Syria | 10 000 | 0 |
Tunisia | 9 200 | 350 |
Jordan | 6 400 | 0 |
Yemen | 5 100 | 390 |
Israel | 3 100 | 1 |
UAE | 2 000 | 540 |
Kuwait | 1 500 | 130 |
Spain | 1 300 | 70 |
Qatar | 800 | 320 |
Portugal | 140 | 7 |
Turkey | 130 | 12 |
Total | 620 000 (70 000 GW) |
6 000 (650 GW) |
could be produced in countries in Europe and North Africa. The “eco-
nomic potential” adds up to more than enough to supply 125 kWh per
day to 1 billion people. The total “coastal potential” is enough to supply
16 kWh per day per person to 1 billion people.
Let’s try to convey on a map what a realistic plan could look like.
Imagine making solar facilities each having an area of 1500 km2 – that’s
roughly the size of London. (Greater London has an area of 1580 km2; the
M25 orbital motorway around London encloses an area of 2300 km2.) Let’s
call each facility a blob. Imagine that in each of these blobs, half the area is
devoted to concentrating power stations with an average power density of
15 W/m2, leaving space around for agriculture, buildings, railways, roads,
pipelines, and cables. Allowing for 10% transmission loss between the
blob and the consumer, each of these blobs generates an average power
of 10 GW. Figure 25.8 shows some blobs to scale on a map. To give a
sense of the scale of these blobs I’ve dropped a few in Britain too. Four of
these blobs would have an output roughly equal to Britain’s total electricity
consumption (16 kWh/d per person for 60 million people). Sixty-five blobs
would provide all one billion people in Europe and North Africa with
16 kWh/d per person. Figure 25.8 shows 68 blobs in the desert.