The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC)[1] is a voluntary association formed in 2003[2] as an initiative of the German association of the Club of Rome[3] and the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation.[4]
TREC promotes an increase of Europe's energy supply[5] 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,[6] the German green party,[6][7] the German Physics Society,[7] the German Advisory Council on Global Change,[7][8] Greenpeace,[7] and Prince Hassan bin Al Talal[9] of Jordan.
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German Aerospace Center studies
Early in the 2000s, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety commissioned and funded the German Aerospace Center (Institute for Technical Thermodynamics for three studies[10][11][12] to evaluate the following:
- the anticipated water and power needs through 2050 in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa;
- the potential for renewable energy in the Middle East and North Africa;
- the potential for an electric power transmission grid connecting the three regions.
All three studies, one on concentrated solar power (CSP) for the Mediterranean Basin,[10] one on trans-Mediterranean interconnection and infrastructure,[11] and the third on CSP for the desalination of sea water[12] have been completed (the last in late 2007).[13][14]
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.
Images from studies
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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.
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DLR studies: projected capacity, land area, costs, etc., 2020 to 2050.
Literature
- TREC/Club of Rome White Paper presented in the European Parliament 28 November 2007
- Study AQUA-CSP on the Potential of CSP for Seawater Desalination – A DLR Study for the BMU, 2007
- Study TRANS-CSP on an Intercontinental Transfer of Solar Energy – A DLR Study for the BMU, 2006
- Study MED-CSP on the Potential of CSP in the MENA Region – A DLR Study for the BMU, 2005
- Peter Hennicke, Nikolaus Supersberger: Krisenfaktor Öl. Abrüsten mit neuer Energie. oekom verlag, November 2006. ISBN 3865810608
- Toralf Staud, Nick Reimer: Wir Klimaretter - So ist die Wende noch zu schaffen. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Mai 2007. ISBN 3462039083
References
- ^ Pincas Jawetz (17 December 2005). "North Africa - Middle East - Europe Renewable Energy Cooperation - an Elixir for the Future". Sustainable Development Media Think Tank. http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2005/12/17/north-africa-middle-east-europe-renewable-energy-cooperation-an-elixir-for-the-future/. "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."
- ^ BBC Radio 4. "Interview with Dr. Gerhard Knies (TREC)". The World Tonight. Transcript published 27 November 2006 on Solarserver Forum for Solar Energy. http://www.solarserver.de/solarmagazin/solar-report_trec_06_e.html.
- ^ Deutsche Gesellschaft Club of Rome (German Association Club of Rome) website.
- ^ Hamburger Klimaschutz-Fonds (HKF, Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation) website.
- ^ Ashley Seager (27 November 2006). "How mirrors can light up the world". The Guardian. http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1957692,00.html.
- ^ a b TREC (16 October 2006). "Club of Rome: German Politicians claim "Clean Power from the Deserts"". Solarserver forum. http://www.solarserver.de/solarmagazin/newsa2006_10_e.html#club.
- ^ a b c d Rolf Hug (23 February 2007). "Solar power from the desert rather than desert in Germany: renewable energy in a trans-European context". Solarserver forum. http://www.solarserver.de/solarmagazin/solar-report_0207_e.html.
- ^ Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen (WBGU, German Advisory Council on Global Change) website.
- ^ United Nations Environment Programme. "Champion of the Earth 2007 West Asia: H. R. H. Prince El Hassan Bin Talal". http://www.unep.org/champions/Winners/winners2007/talal.asp.
- ^ a b c "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).
- ^ a b c "TRANS-CSP: Trans-Mediterranean interconnection for Concentrating Solar Power." DLR ITT, funded by BMU.
- ^ a b "AQUA-CSP: Concentrating Solar Power for Seawater Desalination." DLR ITT, funded by BMU.
- ^ Gerhard Knies and Franz Trieb (2006). "Sun cheaper than Oil". franzalt.com Sun Page. http://www.franzalt.com/index.php?pageID=60&article:oid=a5823&template=article_detail.html&flash=true.
- ^ 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. http://www.eu2007.de/en/News/Speeches_Interviews/April/0419BMBFGabriel.html.
See also
- Appropriate technology
- Relative cost of electricity generated by different sources
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- List of HVDC projects
- European super grid
- List of solar thermal power stations
- Peak Oil
- Solar thermal energy
External links
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