June 2008 saw the launch of the Mediterranean Union at a summit in Paris. The purpose of the organization is to promote cooperation on a variety of issues amongst the countries bordering the region. However, in these times of dwindling fossil fuel supplies and soaring energy prices, it's not surprising that "Energy Cooperation" was a topic of great interest during the meeting.

The fulcrum of the Union's energy cooperation strategy is the idea of a "Super Energy Grid" that would link Africa with Europe. The "Supergrid" will run from the frozen ice in the north to the searing sun in the south; from Europe's Atlantic west to the latest members of the European Union in the east. It will join wind and wave energy from Ireland with biomass from Poland, and geothermal energy from Iceland with the Sahara's abundant solar energy. The grid will allow countries to export power at times of energy surplus and import green energy at times of peak demand. Here lies the real beauty of the plan, because when the winds grow calm off the Irish coast, Icelandic geothermal energy will still be available or the sun will be shining on a Saharan solar farm. Indeed, Saharan solar energy may be the key to the entire project.

In July 2008 at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European Commission's Institute for Energy stated that collecting just 0.3% of the sunlight that falls on the Sahara and other Middle Eastern deserts would provide all of Europe's energy needs. The plan calls for the creation of a series of solar energy farms across the Sahara, an area roughly the size of Wales. Saharan sunlight can generate three times the energy from photovoltaic (PV) panels that European sunlight can. While this may seem like a very Eurocentric view, the plan is not without its benefits for Africa.

Using Solar Thermal Generators, instead of conventional PV panels, would allow the solar power plants to be used as desalination facilities providing clean drinking and irrigation water to an area desperately in need of it. The project would involve investing over €1bn each year until 2050, much of which would feed into African economies. The prospects for job creation in the Sahara region are huge and energy production would provide countries in the region with a clean, renewable, inexhaustible resource for export.

The project has gathered support from some very powerful voices, including U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Sarkozy of France. However, it's not only governments that are supporting the idea. Doug Parr, chief scientist with Greenpeace UK said, "assuming it's cost-effective, a large-scale renewable energy grid is just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change."

The bulk of the cost involved in the project would come from developing infrastructure to connect countries in southern Europe with the Sahara. Underwater Direct Current (DC) power lines would be laid between North Africa and Southern Mediterranean countries. DC current can be transmitted further with less energy loss than AC.

Scientists admit that the project faces huge technical challenges. However, undersea cables to Sicily and Spain are already planned for construction by 2012. Algeria has already started work on a vast solar plant scheduled to produce energy by 2010. Southern Mediterranean countries, including Portugal and Spain, have invested huge amounts in solar energy. As the world grows increasingly anxious about climate change and dwindling fossil fuels, ideas that once seemed impractical are becoming not only more attractive, but increasingly essential. Will the Afro-European Power Grid be the start of a truly Global Energy Network?

Further Reading:

• Europe Seeks to Harvest African Sun with Saharan Solar Installation
• Utah's Solar Fired Furnace to Power California for Less than the Cost of Coal or Gas