Water may be scarce in the Sahara Desert, but it has plentiful amounts of another natural resource: sunshine. Now, as part of an ambitious initiative called Desertec, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are moving toward turning this solar abundance into a valuable source of clean electricity. The vision behind Desertec is to build a network of solar and wind power plants across deserts in the MENA and to distribute that electricity throughout the region and to Europe. Desertec's goal is "to satisfy a substantial part of the energy needs of the MENA countries and to meet up to 15 percent of Europe's electricity demand by 2050." Its first pilot project will be built in Morocco in 2013, taking advantage of an existing undersea transmission line that connects Morocco to Spain. "Energy from the deserts is the largest energy source on Earth," said Paul van Son, CEO of the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii), a consortium of private organizations working to bring the Desertec concept to fruition. "Our aim is to make the best use of it for the benefit of millions of people."
展开▼
机译：撒哈拉沙漠中的水可能很稀少，但是它还有大量的另一种自然资源：阳光。现在，作为一项雄心勃勃的倡议Desertec的一部分，中东和北非（MENA）国家正朝着将这种太阳能资源转化为宝贵的清洁电力来源迈进。 Desertec的愿景是在中东和北非地区的沙漠中建立太阳能和风力发电厂的网络，并将该电力分配到整个地区和欧洲。 Desertec的目标是“到2050年满足中东和北非国家的大部分能源需求，并满足欧洲15％的电力需求”。利用连接摩洛哥和西班牙的现有海底传输线，其第一个试点项目将于2013年在摩洛哥建成。 “沙漠能源是地球上最大的能源，” Destectec工业倡议组织（Dii）的首席执行官Paul van Son说，该组织是致力于实现Desertec概念的私人组织的一个财团。 “我们的目标是最好地利用它，以造福数百万人。”
展开▼
