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Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation

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TREC logo.

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

TREC promotes an increase of Europe's energy supply and a 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.

Supporters of TREC include the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the German green party, the German Physics Society, the German Advisory Council on Global Change, Greenpeace, and Prince Hassan bin Al Talal of Jordan.

German Aerospace Center studies

See also: Desertec § History

In the early 2000's, the three studies were conducted by the Institute for Technical Thermodynamics, German Aerospace Center (DLR) - commissioned and funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The satellite-data supported studies, conducted between 2004 and 2007, evaluated the following as shown in the table below;

Study Description Duration Evaluation Conclusion
MED-CSP study on concentrated solar power (CSP) for the Mediterranean Basin 2004 - 2005 evaluate the potential for renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and availability of resources and demand for energy in the region
TRANS-CSP study on trans-Mediterranean interconnection and infrastructure 2004 - 2006 evaluate the potential for an integrated electric power transmission grid connecting the three regions - Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa; and the assessment of solar energy imports to Europe
AQUA-CSP study on CSP for the desalination of sea water 2004 - 2007 evaluate the anticipated water and power needs through 2050 in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa; and the possibility to generate fresh water along with the electricity generation by the CSP

The studies concluded that the high solar radiation in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa 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 economical than the same kinds of plants in southern Europe. 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 of electricity would come down from 0.09–0.22 euro/kWh to about 0.04–0.05 euro/kWh.

The scientific studies done by DLR helped TREC develop the DESERTEC concept - harness solar and wind energy from the deserts of North Africa; which finally conceptualized into the Desertec project, which aims to provide 15% of Europe's electricity by 2050 at an estimated cost of €400bn (US$526bn).

Images from studies

  • DLR studies: hypothetical infrastructure of HVDC power supply to Europe from the Middle East and North Africa. DLR studies: hypothetical infrastructure of HVDC power supply to Europe from the Middle East and North Africa.
  • DLR studies: hypothetical and existing HVDC transmission lines. Key: Blue: before 2020. Red: after 2020. ●: interconnections to alternating current distribution systems. DLR studies: hypothetical and existing HVDC transmission lines.
    Key:
    Blue: before 2020.
    Red: after 2020.
    ●: interconnections to alternating current distribution systems.
  • 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.

Literature

References

  1. 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… 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.
  2. BBC Radio 4. "Interview with Dr. Gerhard Knies (TREC)". The World Tonight. Transcript published 27 November 2006 on Solarserver Forum for Solar Energy.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. Deutsche Gesellschaft Club of Rome (German Association Club of Rome) website.
  4. Hamburger Klimaschutz-Fonds (HKF, Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation) website.
  5. Ashley Seager (27 November 2006). "How mirrors can light up the world". The Guardian.
  6. ^ TREC (16 October 2006). "Club of Rome: German Politicians claim "Clean Power from the Deserts"". Solarserver forum.
  7. ^ Rolf Hug (23 February 2007). "Solar power from the desert rather than desert in Germany: renewable energy in a trans-European context". Solarserver forum.
  8. Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen (WBGU, German Advisory Council on Global Change) website.
  9. United Nations Environment Programme. "Champion of the Earth 2007 West Asia: H. R. H. Prince El Hassan Bin Talal".
  10. ^ "MED-CSP: Concentrating Solar Power for the Mediterranean Region." German Aerospace Center (DLR) (ITT), funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU)
  11. ^ "TRANS-CSP: Trans-Mediterranean interconnection for Concentrating Solar Power." DLR ITT, funded by BMU.
  12. ^ "AQUA-CSP: Concentrating Solar Power for Seawater Desalination." DLR ITT, funded by BMU.
  13. DESERTEC - Solar power from the desert
  14. The Desertec concept sustainable electricity and water for Europe, Middle east and North Africa
  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.
  17. "From Vision to Reality". DESERTEC Foundation. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  18. "The Apollo, Desertec and Medgrid projects in the Mediterranean region: aiming to harness solar energy from the deserts". Retrieved 7 June 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |published= ignored (help)

See also

External links

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