Maroko je izabran za prvu lokaciju njemačkog, 400 milijarda eura vrijednog projekta koji uključuje izgradnju široke mreže solarnih farmi i vjetroelektrana diljem sjeverne Afrike i Bliskog istoka, čime bi se ispunjavalo oko 15 posto europske potražnje za električnom energijom do 2050.
Projekt Desertec, u koji je uključen konzorcij tvrtki E.ON, Siemens, Munich Re i Deutsche Bank, objavio je na godišnjoj konferenciji u Kairu da svi sustavi idu u Maroko, a da bi izgradnja prve faze solarne farme od 500 MGW trebala početi sljedeće godine. Precizna lokacija dvije milijarde vrijednog pogona treba se još utvrditi, ali vjerojatno će se graditi u blizini pustinjskoga grada Ouarzazate.
Marokanska solarna farma veličine 12 četvornih kilometara bit će referentni projekt koji bi ulagačima i donositeljima političkih odluka trebao pokazati da inicijativa Desertec nije san, već projekt koji bi mogao biti golem izvor obnovljive energije u desetljećima koja dolaze.
Izvršni direktor inicijative Desertec Paul van Son smatra da je taj projekt dobitna kombinacija i za Europu i za sjevernu Afriku i Bliski istok.
U tijeku su pregovori s tuniskom vladom o izgradnji solarne farme, a Alžir je sljedeća najvjerojatnija lokacija zbog blizine mreža zapadne Europe. Libija, Egipat, Turska, Sirija i Saudijska Arabija mogli bi se priključiti mreži od 2020.
Kritičari kažu da koncept prijenosa Sunčeve energije iz Afrike u Europu nije dokazan te da se projekt ne uklapa u njemački energetski plan zelenih.
Hrvatski Centar Obnovljivih Izvora Energije (HCOIE)
Critics of Desertec questioned the viability of a project to generate 100GW by 2050 at a cost of €400 billion, and doubts multiplied when founding shareholder Siemens pulled out of the venture in November last year. In the same month, Dii failed to get the support of the financially-strapped Spanish government for a 500MW CSP demonstration project in Ouarzazate, Morocco, though the project is still going ahead.
ReplyDelete“[Desertec] is not viable in its original form because it is too expensive and utopian. It attracted very little funding. It has essentially collapsed into more or less a bilateral deal,” argues Peter Droege, president of Eurosolar, an industry association.
European electricity players question Dii’s initial business model, arguing that its export-focus was incompatible with current levels of grid interconnectivity between the Maghreb and Europe, and within Europe itself. They add that the market is already struggling to absorb additional renewable energy capacity.
“At a very basic level, we are still missing lines and capacities for export,” according to Susanne Nies, head of Energy Policy and Generation at Eurelectric, the European electricity industry association.
“Spain is already struggling with its own excess renewables production – additional imports from third countries would certainly compound the problem,” she added.
“It is difficult to argue that the EU needs the additional RES capacity,” she said, noting that the technical, economic and regulatory framework of the electricity system needs adjusting in order to cope.
Van Son, who wants Destertec to focus on market synergies, agrees that there is a long way to go before electricity market integration in Europe but argues that that there is a business case to be made.
“If we see the tremendous synergies in terms of real money saving then politicians should not be allowed not to take advantage of these energy synergies. Harming the citizens of Europe and the Middle East is not what politicians should want to do,” he said.
North African countries, the initial focal point of Dii’s activities, are concentrating on meeting their own domestic power demands, which are growing rapidly, and have anyway been hesitant to commit to what they see as unappealing European market conditions.
ReplyDelete“We don’t know if the prices of electricity on the European market are going to give us a return on investments,” said Mustapha Mekideche, the vice-president of Algeria’s state-owned Conseil National Economique et Social (CNES), speaking at an Algiers energy conference in November 2012.
Algeria’s state utility group Sonelgaz signed a cooperation agreement with Dii in Brussels in December 2011, despite doubts from senior Algerian energy decision-makers over Dii’s future.
“The countries of northern Europe need to show their willingness to buy electricity produced from renewable energy,” said Sonelgaz president-director-general Noureddine Bouterfa in an Algerian press interview prior to signing the deal.
Despite Algeria’s ambitious target to produce 40% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030 in a bid to free up more gas for export, progress in establishing projects on the ground has been slow, and a promised Dii-Algerian commitment on a CSP plant has not materialised.