Why Don’t We Build the World’s Largest Solar Farm in the Sahara Desert?

• 20 April 2021
• Construction Focus
• 2809 Views

Photo: Aerial view of a large concentrated solar power plant. Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock. Credit to the conversation.

Renewable energy from solar panels has now become one of the most popular energy alternatives. However, solar farm require large space and strong light. So, why don’t we build a large-scale solar farm on the world’s largest desert in the Sahara?

The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world with a total area of over 9.2 million square kilometres. Researchers have shown that if we build a solar farm covering only one-fourth of the desert, it will be more than enough to supply green energy to the entire world.

But here are the reasons why this project is yet to become reality:

1) Impact on Climate Pattern

According to data from The Conservation, covering the sand with solar panels will raise the ground temperature in the area. When the hot air rises, it will cause rainfall. With more monsoon rainfall, plants grow and the desert reflects less of the sun’s energy, which the loop will eventually turn the Sahara into a new green forest.

Sounds perfect, right? However, according to the same research, a change in climate pattern in the Sahara will affect the entire world’s climate. Those effects include the rise of the world’s temperature, the loss of rainfall in the Amazon, and more chance of cyclones and storms in tropical countries such as Vietnam.

2) Costly Investment

The construction of such a huge solar plant would require a large investment, which could be up to hundreds of billions of dollars. Besides the capital to build the farm, another main issue is power line infrastructure connecting the solar from to the whole world. This will be also a massive investment. Nevertheless, even building lines connecting to nearby regions such as Africa and Europe would still also require enormous capital.

3) Geopolitical issues

The Sahara is not located in one country but 11 countries. Such a big project requires the approval of each country, and those countries must cooperate. Given the large scale, the project would also take a very long time to build and operate. However, if any of those countries have political instability or face change in leaders, the project operation can be easily disrupted. As a result, investors would lose a lot of capital and power supplies would also be cut off. Besides, the geography of the desert is also very remote, which would take a lot of time and effort to transport solar panels in.

However, this idea is not a complete failure as Sahara-bordered countries such as Morocco have been building local solar plants there.

Known as the Noor Solow Power Plant, the project is divided into several phases. The first phase began in 2013 and was completed in 2016, while the second and third phases are under construction. The entire project will cover more than 2,500 hectares and is estimated to use a total investment of over US$2.5 billion. When completed, the plant will have a capacity of over 500MW and can supply power to more than 2 million people in Morocco.

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• Energy and Environment