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Solar Electricity from the Desert for Europe

Desertec – A Visionary Project for Renewable Energies

2009-Jul-10

We are standing at the dawn of a new era: the electricity age. Electricity is becoming an omnipresent power source, in buildings and industry as well as transport with electric cars. An intelligent power grid is gradually being developed, reaching across national borders and incorporating a constantly growing proportion of renewable energies. Siemens is the world leader in offshore wind farms and in steam turbines for solar thermal power plants – both are key components of the Desertec concept, via which future solar power plants and wind farms in North Africa are to supply electricity as far afield as Europe. The concept will require transnational power highways that are able to efficiently transmit electricity across thousands of kilometers. Such high-voltage direct current transmission lines already exist, for example in China.

Reference Number: PN 2009.12

10 July 2009 | Desertec – A visionary project for renewable energies - Solar collectors supply environmentally friendly electricity

Solar thermal power plants play a key role in the Desertec project. Using solar collectors, water is transformed into steam which drives a turbine. Siemens is the market leader in steam turbines for solar thermal power plants. To date, it has already received almost 50 orders for especially adapted steam turbines with outputs ranging from 1.5 MW to 123 MW – including a 19-MW industrial steam turbine for the Solar Tres power tower facility in Spain. The photo shows the solar thermal power plant Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Colorado. Siemens delivered a steam turbine with a capacity of 64 MW to this facility.

Reference number: PN200912-02

10 July 2009 | Desertec – A visionary project for renewable energies - Wind energy backs up solar power

A further module of the Desertec project is the installation of wind turbines off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Siemens is the market leader in offshore wind farms. The company supplies both wind turbines and the infrastructure for grid connections from one source. The Lillgrund offshore wind farm, located in the Öresund Sound between Malmö, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark, is the first project for which Siemens has provided both solutions.

Reference number: PN200912-07

10 July 2009 | Desertec – A visionary project for renewable energies - Sketch of possible infrastructure for a sustainable supply of power

The Desertec concept describes sustainable power supply for Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa based on renewable energy sources. The power is to be generated by solar thermal power plants primarily located in northern Africa and by wind farms off the coast of northern Africa and northern Europe. Together with a number of renowned industrial companies Siemens has a commitment in the Desertec Industrial Initiative.

Reference number: SOAXX200910-01

10 July 2009 | Desertec – A visionary project for renewable energies - Solar collectors supply environmentally friendly electricity

Solar thermal power plants play a key role in the Desertec project. Using solar collectors, water is transformed into steam which drives a turbine. Siemens is the market leader in steam turbines for solar thermal power plants. To date, it has already received almost 50 orders for especially adapted steam turbines with outputs ranging from 1.5 MW to 123 MW – including a 19-MW industrial steam turbine for the Solar Tres power tower facility in Spain. The photo shows the solar thermal power plant Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Colorado. Siemens delivered a steam turbine with a capacity of 64 MW to this facility.

Reference number: PN200912-03

10 July 2009 | Desertec – A visionary project for renewable energies - Super transformer for power highways

The world’s first 800 kilovolt (kV: 800,000 volts) HVDC transformer (high-voltage direct current transmission) is key to the construction of efficient power highways. Previous HVDCT voltages amounted to a maximum of 500 kilovolts. The transformer is as tall as a detached house. It will be used for the first time in China, where a capacity of 5000 MW will be transported across 1400 km – with minimal loss of only five percent. The Desertec project will also need transformers like this one to transport the desert electricity from Africa to Europe.

Reference number: PN200912-04

10 July 2009 | Desertec – A visionary project for renewable energies - Super transformer for power highways

The world’s first 800 kilovolt (kV: 800,000 volts) HVDC transformer (high-voltage direct current transmission) is key to the construction of efficient power highways. Previous HVDCT voltages amounted to a maximum of 500 kilovolts. The transformer is as tall as a detached house. It will be used for the first time in China, where a capacity of 5000 MW will be transported across 1400 km – with minimal loss of only five percent. The Desertec Project will also need transformers like this one to transport the desert electricity from Africa to Europe.

Reference number: PN200912-05

10 July 2009 | Desertec – A visionary project for renewable energies - Wind energy backs up solar power

A further module of the Desertec project is the installation of wind turbines off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Siemens is the market leader in offshore wind farms. The company supplies both wind turbines and the infrastructure for grid connections from one source. The photo shows the Burbo offshore wind farm, off the coast of Liverpool, UK, with 25 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 3.6 MW.

Reference number: PN200912-06

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