African solar farms will power all of Europe by 2050

**Valentin the II** · June 24, 2010, 11:06 AM

Linky

I have just one thing to say: Finally! What took them so long?
Also, we need to get more nations involved to get it up and running as soon as possible.

What do you think?

**Del Valle** · June 24, 2010, 11:23 AM

Environmentalists are probably going to have a hissyfit over the endangering of a lizard or fly or something that is native to the area they'll be building in.

**Phier** · June 24, 2010, 11:29 AM

Interesting, but I'd reserve judgment until I saw more than the companies press release.

**Valentin the II** · June 24, 2010, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Phier

Interesting, but I'd reserve judgment until I saw more than the companies press release.

You must agree, the potential is definitely there.

**Thanatos** · June 24, 2010, 12:02 PM

And who, pray tell, is going to clean all of these solar panels?

**~~Sensei Kiisu~~** · June 24, 2010, 12:42 PM

Ahhh, what an appropiate target that would be for terrorists looking to black-out Europe (':

**Valentin the II** · June 24, 2010, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Thanatos

And who, pray tell, is going to clean all of these solar panels?

The locals probably.
New towns can be created nearby for the maintenance and security personal.

Originally Posted by Sensei Kiisu

Ahhh, what an appropiate target that would be for terrorists looking to black-out Europe (':

Just like today's oil and gas pipelines.

**CDMan477** · June 24, 2010, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by Valentin the II

Just like today's oil and gas pipelines.

Those are rather evenly distributed around Europe and the world in general, or at least not isolated in a single location as this article describes. It's a noble goal in theory, but It would as suggested leave all of Europe's power supply in a vulnerable position whether from a would be terrorist or a larger military operation if such a situation came to pass. You'll be putting all of your eggs in one basket if you will.

**~~Sensei Kiisu~~** · June 24, 2010, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by CDMan477

Those are rather evenly distributed around Europe and the world in general, or at least not isolated in a single location as this article describes. It's a noble goal in theory, but It would as suggested leave all of Europe's power supply in a vulnerable position whether from a would be terrorist or a larger military operation if such a situation came to pass. You'll be putting all of your eggs in one basket if you will.

Exactly my point, it's far too unreliable as a power source if there is no back-up alt. Though, I guess you could put security around these, AA guns, Anti-Missile, perimeter fences and so on..

Of course.. I guess the terrorist who succeeded in breaking all these mirrors would have major ****ing bad-luck for eternity XD

**Mangerman** · June 24, 2010, 03:28 PM

You can't rely on only one kind of power source, especially not if that source is located in Africa, that would be very irresponsible. You would need a healthy mix of solar, wind, bio and nuclear. Hell, we will still be using fossilfuels in 2050.

**Justice and Mercy** · June 24, 2010, 03:44 PM

Why not nuclear?

I just don't get it...

**Sulfurion Blackfyre** · June 24, 2010, 05:17 PM

Sidi Power Plant anyone?

**Ulyaoth** · June 24, 2010, 06:50 PM

I was under the impression that electricity loses efficiency massively over a distance that large. Wouldn't they need to massively overproduce to have enough power actually reach Europe?

**martyr** · June 24, 2010, 06:57 PM

depends on whether the electricity is ac or dc.

this is good, but we should focus on micro-generation i feel

**Sphere** · June 25, 2010, 12:20 AM

I was under the impression that electricity loses efficiency massively over a distance that large. Wouldn't they need to massively overproduce to have enough power actually reach Europe?

You'd probably lose 60-70% of it trying to force it over lines that far away. Especially if a good chunk of that distance is over extremenly hot desert. There are ways of mitigating that effect, but none that are cheap.

**Zhangir** · June 25, 2010, 04:37 AM

Hmmm quite clever that...
Just be mindful that the country where that is placed in (Algeria, Mali, Niger, Chad or wherever) doesn't act the same way as Russia and blackmail Europe for Energy.
Or the French will just have to go there and take those Colonies back :\

**Turtle Hammer** · June 25, 2010, 01:55 PM

Nuclear power is the only sensible option. It's clean and reliable barring catastrophic mishaps like Chernobyl, and comparing that to European nuclear power's like comparing a Lada to a BMW.

**Mythos** · June 25, 2010, 03:03 PM

Because being dependent on energy on Russia and the ME has worked so well for Europe and the US that we are happy to do it for the next whole millenium or so? Europe receves plenty of sunlight, wind and tidal energy. We need to find ways to store it efficiently, maximise our energy consumption efficiency and invest a lot of money on nuclear fusion research instead of finding ways to remain hostages to ME autocrats and Russian and Central Asian siloviki.