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Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation

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TREC logo.

The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC), also known as The TREC Development Group, is a voluntary association which was formed as an initiative of the German association of the Club of Rome and the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation in 2003.

TREC promotes an increase of Europe's energy supply, and a concomitant reduction of its CO2 emissions, by campaigning for renewable non-polluting electric power transmission to Europe via high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines from solar and wind power stations in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa.

TREC is supported by, among others, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the German green party, the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German physics society), the German Advisory Council on Global Change, Greenpeace, and Prince Hassan bin Al Talal of Jordan.

German Aerospace Center (DLR) studies

The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) commissioned and funded the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute for Technical Thermodynamics (see technology, thermodynamics) in the early 2000s for three studies, to evaluate the potential of renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa; the water supply and electric power needs expected through the year 2050 in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa; and the potential of an electric power transmission grid connecting the three regions.

Dr. Franz Trieb, the principal investigator for these studies, is a member of the TREC-Network.

Two studies, one on concentrated solar power (CSP) for the Mediterranean Basin, the other on trans-Mediterranean interconnection and infrastructure, have been completed. As of mid-2007, the third study of concentrated solar power for the desalination of seawater is in progress.

Images from DLR studies

  • DLR studies: hypothetical infrastructure of HVDC power supply to Europe from Middle East and North Africa. DLR studies: hypothetical infrastructure of HVDC power supply to Europe from Middle East and North Africa.
  • DLR studies: hypothetical and existing HVDC transmission lines. Key: Blue: before 2020. Red: after 2020. ●: interconnections to AC. DLR studies: hypothetical and existing HVDC transmission lines.
    Key:
    Blue: before 2020.
    Red: after 2020.
    ●: interconnections to AC.
  • DLR studies: projection that solar power plants in desert areas indicated by red squares would be sufficient to generate the amount of electricity currently consumed by the world, Europe, Germany, respectively. DLR studies: projection that solar power plants in desert areas indicated by red squares would be sufficient to generate the amount of electricity currently consumed by the world, Europe, Germany, respectively.
  • DLR studies: projected capacity, land area, costs, etc., 2020 to 2050. DLR studies: projected capacity, land area, costs, etc., 2020 to 2050.

Feasibility and implementation

The high solar radiation in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa, twice that of southern Europe, outweighs the 10-15% transmission losses between the desert regions and Europe. This means that solar thermal power plants in the desert regions are more economic than the same kinds of plants in southern Europe. Although hydrogen has in the past been proposed as an energy vector, this form of transmission is very much less efficient than HVDC transmission lines. The German Aerospace Center has calculated that, if solar thermal power plants were to be constructed in large numbers in the coming years, the estimated cost would come down from 9-22 EuroCent/kWh to about 4-5 EuroCent/kWh.

In addition to direct supporting measures, TREC proposes two projects which are technically feasible but would require financial and political support:

  • Sana’a solar water project: desalination and power plants could be located near the Red Sea for the Yemen capital Sana’a which is facing the exhaustion in coming years of its ground water reserves, much of it used to irrigate qat. The additional cost of transporting desalinated water or pumping it to higher elevations can also be a significant, even an inhibiting, factor.

Criticism

The European importation of electricity from the Middle East and North Africa entails political risks when the quota exceeds a certain level. Furthermore the political barriers are high, because for a realisation of the concept a cooperation between the states of Europe (e.g., France prefers nuclear power generation) and the states of the Middle East and North Africa would be necessary.

A realisation of the concept could be less problematic inside one national confederation, e.g. Australia or the United States. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has said that Australia's national electricity grid could be fully powered from solar-thermal power by 2020. Solar thermal power stations in southern California have shown their viability over the past fifteen years, such that neighbouring states of New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona are adopting similar technology.

References

  1. TREC homepage and TREC-UK website.
  2. ^ Paper for Arab Thought Forum and Club of Rome, Amman (Version: 24-11-2003). "Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation" (PDF). Saharawind.com. The TREC Development Group. Formed by initiative of the German Ass. Club of Rome, and of the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation HKF. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. Pincas Jawetz (17 December 2005). "North Africa - Middle East - Europe Renewable Energy Cooperation - an Elixir for the Future". Sustainable Development Media Think Tank. TREC… is the brainchild of the German Association for the Club of Rome and the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation, and it seemingly involved Benin, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and the EU. TREC actually was a paper for an Arab Thought Forum held in Amman 2003, in anticipation of the June International Conference on Renewable Energies 2004 in Bonn. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. Deutsche Gesellschaft Club of Rome (German Association Club of Rome) website.
  5. Hamburger Klimaschutz-Fonds (HKF, Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation) website.
  6. Ashley Seager (27 November 2006). "How mirrors can light up the world". The Guardian. European commission president José Manuel Barroso said recently that he wanted to see the European Union develop a common energy strategy based on low carbon emissions. The Trec scientists hope German chancellor Angela Merkel will use next year's joint presidency of the EU and Group of Eight leading economies to push for an agreement on a European DC grid and the launch of a widespread CSP programme.
    "The outlook is not promising. More than 30 countries last week agreed to spend £7bn on an experimental fusion reactor in France which critics say will not produce any electricity for 50 years, if at all. That amount of money would provide a lot of CSP power, a proven, working and simple technology that would work now, not in 2056.     {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ TREC (16 October 2006). "Club of Rome: German Politicians claim "Clean Power from the Deserts"". Solarserver forum. Politicians from the German Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party are campaigning for a cooperation between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East to develop renewable energy. In doing so, they are acting on a proposal by the Club of Rome to take this major step in fighting climate change. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Rolf Hug (23 February 2007). "Solar power from the desert rather than desert in Germany: renewable energy in a trans-European context". Solarserver forum. Greenpeace, the german Green Party, the German Physics Society (DPG) and the Scientific Advisory Council of the Federal Government for Global Environmental Changes (WBGU) together with other institutions and associations support this project. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen (WBGU, German Advisory Council on Global Change) website.
  10. United Nations Environment Programme. "Champion of the Earth 2007 West Asia: H. R. H. Prince El Hassan Bin Talal". H.R.H. has supported global partnerships aimed at ensuring sustainable energy use, such as the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation, an organization which has had a measurable impact on sustainable development and which has pointed the way to clean and equitable energy production by sharing capital and know-how.
  11. ^ "MED-CSP: Concentrating Solar Power for the Mediterranean Region." German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute for Technical Thermodynamics (ITT), funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
  12. ^ "TRANS-CSP: Trans-Mediterranean interconnection for Concentrating Solar Power." DLR ITT, funded by BMU.
  13. ^ "AQUA-CSP: Concentrating Solar Power for Seawater Desalination." DLR ITT, funded by BMU.
  14. Members of the TREC-Network as of August 2007.
  15. Gerhard Knies and Franz Trieb (2006). "Sun cheaper than Oil". franzalt.com Sun Page.
  16. Sigmar Gabriel, BMU minister (19 April 2007). "Innovative Policy and financing instruments for a sustainable energy policy in the European neighbourhood policy" (html). eu2007.de, the website of Germany's January-June 2007 European Presidency. Studies on potential by the German Aerospace Center find that solar thermal power plants in southern Europe and northern Africa could play an important role in securing a sustainable European energy supply. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Speech by Michael Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary for the BMU, at European "Integrating Environment, Development and Conflict Prevention" Conference, Berlin (29 March 2007). "Energy, Natural Resources and the Environment: Challenges for Broadening the European Security Debate" (html). bmu.de Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (Germany) website. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Ismail Al-Ghabiri and Amel Al-Ariqi (June 26-28 2006). "Water expert: Desalination or displacement for Sana'a residents". Yemen Times, No. 958, Vol. 14. Sana'a residents annually consume nearly 250 million cubic meters, 80 percent of which is for agriculture (of which the majority is used to irrigate qat), with 20 percent consumed by daily use and industry…
    "Desalination often is viewed as some sort of magical solution to water scarcity in Sana'a and other cities, while others consider it expensive technology, especially when desalinated water must be transported over long distances or pumped to high elevations. In such cases, the amount of energy necessary to transport such water, rather than the desalination cost, becomes the deterring or constraining factor.     {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

External links

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