The Problem with Solar Energy in Africa

150 million * 592 is a bit more than 8.9 billion $

I’m in Australia and there’s a big factor that you’ve missed. Ironically, panels don’t work as well in extreme heat. Sun light = good, extreme heat = bad.

Great video. I was surprised to learn that DC is actually better over very long distances than AC- something that seems to contradict much of what we are taught regarding the two systems. Very informative, and all points were clear and relevant. Good job!

Excellent video, very imformative and well researched.
However, it should have been titled 'The Problem with Solar Energy in Africa for Europe' as the video did not really address solar energy in Africa in general.

Very interesting. The policy change to recognise the priority of local needs to be satisfied along with the international need, is an approach that will not only reduce the existing global disparities and sense of exploitation that bedevils development, but will make international cooperation look more beneficial and will be welcomed. Great video.

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on these enw green hydrogen projects that EU countries want to build in Africa

Machine learning and power systems management is a huge topic of research right now that doesn't seem to make an appearance often in public spaces. If you're looking to get into AI stuff, its a really interesting topic, but also insanely complex.

This was an amazing video, thanks again!! I really hope Morocco builds a solar panel system like this to stop exploitation from western powers and that we can build sustainable power generation to stop the climate disaster.

You've got a solid point there. Besides I can't help but notice that boone is even considering building this infrastructure to power Africa: it's a lot more people than Europeans, and they want electricity to power their advancements too.. and rightly so.
On a secondary point: Germany is currently running a real world sized experiment to produce CH4 from a wind farm. I understand the "H" comes from water so there's that but I wonder: pipeline, and gas terminals are already in place (thinking Algeria mostly: Lybia is not stable enough yet to build up a joint venture there). Gas could be sold to anyone on earth from there. Looks like a good bet for an investment...

This video was very concise and informative. However I strongly oppose with the sharp sentiment of it being imperial exploitation. It is very unfair to the countries who were looking into it., which is esentially an infrastrcutre project.
For one, scrapping the plans makes sense given the reasons you presented. It is not a proof of ill will as you try to convey. Why keep going with a plan that would be risky, expensive and damaging to the local enivironment? If one intents to invest into the desert countries, it makes much more sense to invest into their industry directly, instead of keeping some nonsensical projects alive. And maybe we would have not known of the water consumption problems if it wasn't properly investigated in this format.
Second of all, the investigation into the feasibilty requires funding and many well educated scientists and engineers. The local countries could maybe still recycle the research made and lessons learned for their own energy generation in the future. It doesn't only benefit the comissioning countries.

I think that at least part of the energy excess could be used to create green hydrogen or even eFuels, also decarbonization comes to mind - the countries could sell certificates - they pull out CO2 from the atmosphere and sell certificates for that which other countries or companies could by for their (current) consumption of carbon based energy.

I really haven't seen another critical issue addressed: after the first sandstorm, solar production of sandblasted glass drops precipitously. How can panels survive the constant wind-borne abrasion?

The obvious solution is making the energy closer to where it will be used. So instead of these large solar farms just put solar panels on every house, you can use wind as well. Nuclear and hydro can cover the base load requirements.

Well explained in deed, well explained. The sun is a huge source of energy se are missing but as I see it, solar pannels and solar farms are still not an enough clean option. They are barely commercially viable but far from clean. I mean, they produce energy but in a still complicated way because it's difficult to store and transport. Even worse the material these pannels are made is HIGHLY DANGEROUS and VOLATILE, it evaporates hence reducing the lifespan and eficency in too hot enviroments.
At this point the solution has to be achieved outside of the box, we as humanity already know of better but inconvenient solutions wich fall outside of the consummer system. The key discussion needs to take this into account, otherwise we are just digging a hole to patch another.
Good luck everyone.

Finances and energy security aside, as solar has 4× the median life cycle CO2 emissions of wind or nuclear fission, according to the IPCC's 2013 LCA report, relying on that much solar power wouldn't have been the most efficient way to decarbonise either.

One of the most important advantages of solar panels is the fact that they decentralise power production saving cable and pylons and ensuring that the power doesn't shut off for everyone at once as it does with grid failure. It is much better, in most cases, to have solar panels on every building that act independently. If solar panels are used as a structural element replacing roofs and walls exposed to the sun, they serve two purposes, both power supply and building integrity.
Road surfaces are potentially a massive area that could be used for powering vehicles, but with a chain of power generating units that are independent of each other instead of the entire road surface being connected. This way if one link fails, the others can operate normally as charging units for electric cars.

Thailand has built some very large solar farms that float on water reservoirs. Not only does it generate electricity, but the shade reduces water evaporation and helps cool the panels.

It *is* a good idea in a very long timeframe of economic cooperation between Europe and northern Africa. But, also, critically, only to significantly add to the energy supply needs of the whole mediterrenean region, *not* to replcace all energy production for the region, because that is by far too risky. Spain getting a large part of their energy needs met through Gibraltar sounds good (and *is* within limitation and reason), but Spain can itself generate a lot of that power with it it´s own solar energy and absolutely should massively expand their existing capabilities (with the help of EU and national subsidies) to supply the whole Iberian peninsula for starters and then supply more for the the rest of Europe, too (it´s all one european grid anyway, though. They´re already supplying everybody as all power plants are, to a degree). Because of all this, energy supply from northern Africa would, sensibly, always be an *addition* for extra energy security and more competition in the energy market. If all or even just an irreplacable part of european energy supply were to come from a single, all be it large, region outside of Europe, then it´s not exactly a single point of failure, but still far too few points of failure.

First of all, this plug for brilliant was in fact brilliant.
What about using cheap solar panels energy to convert carbon in the atmosphere into a some fuel?
Or to use that energy to leverage the position in producing fertilizers.

I usual really love your channel, but spending nearly half the video just talking about the issues of the electrical grid expansions that would be needed, whilst ignoring the current leaps in the field of synthetic carbon capture fuel (which would solve many of the long distance transportation issues) is a bit of a shame.

Surprised he didn’t mention supercritical CO2 cycles in combination with the concentrated solar. Might solve a couple issues mentioned in the video

Beyond the technical and scientific issues, there's also the problem of energy dependence. Giving another country control over your power is insane.

Solar power is dependent on your latitude, which hemisphere you're in, the time of the year, the amount of cloud cover, pollution in your area and the ambient temperature as well as voltage drops, and other electrical factors that are inefficiencies in the system!
The amount of electrical energy is measured in Watts and in volt amps or VA.
When PV photo voltaic cells are used, the amount of electrical per square foot or meter is rather small as we see in other applications like yard lights along the sidewalk. If you live in a very sunny area you can produce some electrical power but you still need a big area of panels! If you live in an area with a lot of cloud cover, cold winters and high electrical demands for heating and illumination in the winter, the payback time on your investment isn't that promising!
There is also maintenance and repairs on a PV system and there are inherent dangers for the DYI! I can do the math, and as an electrician for 40 years, the numbers are just not there from a practical standpoint for me!

The main reason why so few solar systems are in operation in desert areas is, of course, lack of water. In addition to the lack of water and the normal dust, the other problem is the particulate matter in the air, which massively blocks the sun's rays before they even reach the surface of the solar arrays and accounts for about 25% of the yield loss. All of this causes O&M costs to significantly reduce profits.
In order for the desired yield to be profitable, the solar energy must be skillfully concentrated, protected from dusting, and instead of water, compressed air must be used to clean the surfaces. Because the air is available everywhere for free and this does not need to be transported.
I have described how all this is supposed to work in a post on LinkedIn or energycentral. This can be found via DuckDuckGo: ""Don't put your money in the sand".
The energy generated in this way does not necessarily have to be transmitted via power cables, but can be converted directly into LOHC hydrogen on site and transported further like crude oil.

I have returned to this presentation several times because it is very good. Unfortunately, I keep finding problems with the presentation and keep wishing that you would do a follow-up centered on photovoltaics and avoiding loaded words like “imperialism” or “colonialism.” I feel that the weakest parts of this piece is the economic and political discussion. Equal investment does not inherently guarantee a”level playing field”, nor does heavier investment from abroad than from local sources automatically imply imperialism. Macroeconomics and international politics are not your strong points.

The most important takeaway is that the former model of a centralised energy production (plants)is not to be reproduced. Renewables work when in a highly distributed model, whereby energy is produced, delivered or stored near where it is consumed. Rather than a farm, local community size production installations yield much better results without requiring costly infrastructure to build, maintain, regulate and monitor. A lean approach with a straight producer-to-consumer scheme is how solar, wind etc. will eventually help the transition to renewables in a way that does work (and the shorter the line, the less the losses in efficiency).

We recently did a short school project on Nigeria and ~40% of their population is off their grid/doesn't get reliable electricity. Using local solar they can support their people without heavily investing in grid infrastructure. Solar is a win internally in Africa.

One of the biggest solar power plants there (Benban Solar Park) on an area of 37.2 km (14.4 sq mi) is already exisiting. It is located in Egypt and produces approximately 3.8 TWh per year. And the idea is to use seawater of the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterenean sea to produce hydrogen and pump that gas to Europe

Solution? :
Step 1: start a plant by choosing a place near the Sea
Step 2: do water desalination
Step 3: USE SOLAR POWER TO MAKE HYDROLYSIS with sweet-water
Step 4: send hydrogen through pipes to europe
Step 5 iterate again while sending salt water to desalination further away from the sea as plants grow with energy that is produced by leftover hydrogen
Result:
- cheap sending to europe
- easy to store energy
- no need of fossile fuel to keep plant going (all runs on hydrogen)

"Every plan to turn this plan into reality has failed."
- you forgot to add "So far" because if history thought us anything is that engineers and scientists always find a way. 😉

Great idea! Shame that in order for it to work, politicians have to agree on stuff which makes it almost impossible :(

As a Moroccan, I really hope for success of local electric production, it would be a gamechanger for the industry.

Who ever said that solar panels have to be centralized like this to become a viable energy source? This idea of energy transportation being a huge obstacle is easily overcome by spreading out solar panels. It would address concerns about weather as well.

Would concentrated thermal power be useful for turning seawater into fresh water?

Really glad you mentioned the long term conflict of interest which would arise from euro investments in african energy generation

The costs of transmissions doesn't work like you said in the video.
You can't just project linear costs from small lines into big ones. Of course, if we wanted to transport a lot of GW, they will use lines with a lot more power than now, instead a lot of small ones. That scales better in costs.
And yes... because photovoltaics became cheaper more quickly, then the desertec plans become outdated, but it doesn't make the idea fails. Just it needs to be updated, so probably a mix with higher proportion of photovoltaics has more sense now.
Also, making the plants near the sea, instead of consume fresh water, concentrated plants can consume sea water and produce desalinated water as a byproduct making the plants more profitable.
But it's real that the countries are more unstable that other investments and probably the reason because these plants will take a lot of time to turn real and probably in a smaller scale will be just because western countries will produce energy in situ instead of remote places. At least by now. The desertec was based in the prices difference between produce on Africa and produce in Europe and now that difference is not enough to attract so heavy investments.
But take notice that the reduce of fossil fuels is just starting, and there will be a huge demand of hydrogen for industry for example.
Maybe the Sahara regions & Middle East will turn into a huge energy export using electricity or P2G to export hydrogen instead.
Or... maybe Africa will turn into a new big producer in this century just like China and Asia was in the last three decades, so this energy will be consumed in the continent to produce a lot of goods for export.
I don't see this as a "colonization" in the same way that China was not colonized by the western. It depends a lot of little things like ownership, retain and increase local knowledge and expertise, etc. To be an exporter is not a bad things specially if they are poorer than anyone else, if the profit is reinvested into local capitalization to make a fast development in the area.

So what about Chile's massive potential of energy production in the Atacama desert (photovoltaic) and Patagonia (eolic)? Maybe the low local demand of energy may be a benefit for exporting stacked energy in the shape of hydrogen from water desalination electrolysis plants, specially considering that every in Chile is close to the coast. It's just the perfect industry for my country

This type of systems in N. Africa would be a wonderful project.
Take photovoltaic or heat solar energy basis (ideally a combination of both). Use water for hydrogen production (needs a pipeline to nearest source of water - perhaps the Mediterranean) and for cleaning and cooling. Use some heat recovery systems for the water as well and then treat the used water to recover and reuse it to reduce water footprint.
For shorter distances, transmit directly the power by the most efficient method. Then you can use batteries (for night use of energy) and hydrogen (for local use and export).
An integrated approach could work wonderfully and all the costs don't really phase much. BP alone want to invest 5 Billion USD annually on renewables. And that is just one company investing in just one area of operation, ANUALLY. Reaching some 500 Billion USD investment over a period of 10 years by multiple countries should not be too difficult.

Wouldn't it make more sense to keep the excessive amount of energy localized to the region, use the cheap energy to produce goods (potential energy goods, maybe?) which can be sold and shipped around the globe at a highly reduced cost to hundreds of 150 million dollar cables?

I find the tendency to frame any interaction between Europe and Africa to be neo-imperialistic to be baffling. In this case a German consortium approached the Moroccan government about making an investment in Morocco. The Moroccan government decided it was interested in a chance at a big new export, but the project eventually became uneconomic and was abandoned. Happens between groups in different European countries all of the time and without anyone calling it imperialistic. In contrast, in true imperialistic systems the locals had no say in whether such projects went ahead as they were approved by either a colonial administration or a puppet local government, neither of which apply here. I think it's a bit infantalising of African nations to continue to paint their independent economic choices as neo-imperialistic in this way.

I would be interested in seeing high-power heavy industry and refining being built in Sahara to be powered by solar. Something like aluminium production which requires immense amounts of energy.

This is all fascinating. On the surface if someone said to me "let's turn the Sahara into a giant solar plant" I would think it's a good idea. You bring up a lot of good points.

Excellent presentation--I understand the issues much better now. Thank you.

So maybe someone much smarter than me can explain this but ... What about using a solar plant in the Sahara to charge up massive batteries??? -- and then transporting said battery to a location in need of energy. This eliminates the need for those expensive transmission lines.
Disclaimer: I know nothing about using solar power to charge batteries

It's lucky this project wont be that successful, just imagine if this was much cheaper and would work overall really well. It's so risky having a large part of your energy source in not just another country, but another continent even.

If you were to block the saharan desert from almost all of its sunshine by covering it with voltaic cells it would lead to a massive disturbance in the climate around the world. You would probably end up making the climate worse.
Especially since Sand takes up heat very quickly. When the sand would no longer receive that heat anymore the temperature would change drastically.

it could be practical though to spread probably largely decentralized solar power systems (like for one household or one village) through desert and desert-adjacent inhabited areas to replace wood and charcoal for cooking, and also provide some electricity for electronic devices to aid in education etc.. I hear areas like the sahel have long had a problem with trees being cut down for firewood, when they are desperately needed to hold off desertification and graze goats and such. countering desertification locally by use of solar power probably wouldn't make a difference for the climate, but it would help to reduce the displacement of people in those areas, which is generally going to be a huge worldwide problem in the coming decades. it would also be nice in that it would empower poor people, whereas the plans to export african solar power to europe would as usual benefit corporations and corrupt officials. well, the solar power would probably also be routed to some nearby cities, but certainly not to villages in the middle of nowhere.

Hmm, i had hoped for a bit more touching on heat vs solar panels and also sand storms and general sand movement interfering with the mirrors (making them go blind) and with the surface of solar panels as well.
I don't quite get why it is so problematic to build up a power plant fully with foreign investement money which then has obligations towards the investors to provide electricity for a certain time - how is that colonial? The two options are: Morocco gets money for a power plant which then will provide electricity to the investors for a certain time and afterwards is probably just a piece of infrastructure for morocco or morocco gets no power plant at all, because they can't or don't want to afford it on their own.
The water usage is a big problem and on that i'm with you, but investors seeing some return on their investment doesn't strike me as very colonial. And i fail to see the alternative there. Even in socialism, you wouldn't invest sums that large with no return for yourself.

According to recent models, the Saharan Monsoon may switch back on at moderately warmer temperatures- bringing back the Green Sahara. Would be a greater benefit than any solar power project

"This plan will take billions to complete" - Actually worth it. But nooo, big energy companies can't allow it

Very good overview of an incredibly complex subject…you can make a case for every energy form ..but where you start from..what consequences you refer to or not…both indirect and direct
And where you end…are just some of the many variables….even Michael Moore belatedly came to realise a lot of the green energy…was mainly a con and delivered pitifully little energy…whilst consuming huge resources indirectly…a weird combination of the greens and big business …one party believing the hogwash…the other with zero consiousness cynical enough to make a fast buck …all of course supported by global media

I see a really awesome game like Factorio or a mod that focuses on electricity generation and distribution in a more complex and realistic way. This is fascinating stuff. Enough so that I feel I chose the wrong career.

Equatorial mega-ships(solar islands) cooled by waters would be glorious. Sadly would require world-wide cooperation and we are all way too greedy :(

I do believe that one day, projects like that will work out. probably need more innovative ideas:)

Has anyone calculated the cost of making the entire project EMP proof? The fall of the Earth's magnetic field (already down 20-25% & dropping) makes such preparation imperative.

I'd love to see this video reviewed with the new Morocco to UK HVDC cable being built.

There are a couple of points left out, such as temperature, cost of land and intermittency based on location. Temperature is an efficiency factor for PVs and installing them in a desert where temperature goes beyond 45 C is not a very feasible idea. Cost of land in Germany is multiples higher than cost of land in Morocco. Finally, in Germany PVs energy supply will be more intermittent than that of Morocco's.

Would it be possible to use that solar energy and make hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cells and then ship them out to be used to power stuff?

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽good video desert solar energy should be done equally by countries working together and taking countries taking care of their people first.

To put some of the figures quoted in context; the cost of repairing inadequate welds in the cooling system of the French nuclear plant at Flammanville is estimated to cost 1.5 billion euros. This, for a few welds, is for a plant (EDF Energy) that is now 11 years overdue and had an original total building cost estimate of 3.3 billion euros. That estimate has now risen to 19.1 billion euros.

I did some math back in my uni days (so like a year ago) if you covered the total area of the earth in thermodynamically maximal solar panels you would just meet & exceed the global energy output. The entire premise of the “simple math” is factually incorrect. This also includes wind energy sources (I studied geophysics and earth science)

I live in Kenya and solar here is incredible since there is no true "winter", its only sunny and rainy season so there is not less sunlight or less sun hours around the year

Andalucia in Spain, the Langueduc-Roussillon in France and most of Italy have excellent areas for solar farms and I know for a fact that France has been terribly lazy with upgrading their solar and wind farms...all along the French Riviera could install roof tiles that look like the red clay tuiles they use and retain the esthetic and go green....

The only truly tradeoffs free renewable energy source would be Dyson sphere. Anything other than that would 100% sure have drawbacks some way or another.

As a german i can say, at least our supply of problems seems to be inexhaustable.
Good thing we have a thing for engineering ;-)

I studied this a few years back. The biggest issue solar companies faced in Africa was crime and sabotage.

Nice to see a YT channel taking a broader, more realistic view of technological 'solutions' for a change.

That really puts the gap from where we are to a type 1 civilization in perspective

I would have though a big problem would be the sahara dust storms that cover everything over. Wouldn't be long before these panels were covered with dust and not working. Moreover the change in ecosystem eg- "Desert damage: the dark side of solar power?" - By Pat Brennan

So we could cover the whole of Sahara with solar panels.
Or, spend a fraction of a percent of that money on making nuclear powerplants and just flying the nuclear waste into the sun, it would still be cheaper, safer and faster then the solar utopia.
Wasting time, energy and money on transporting local sources of power to places where that power isnt, is worse for everyone.

Might be strange question, but from my understanding…water solar farms are a bit more efficient, and water desalination dumps brine back into the ocean, why not dispose of brine on top of the dessert and put a solar farm on top of it

Generation tends to be the focus, while transmission and storage have enormous engineering challenges as well. But advances for both are coming, too.

at 5:00 , The consideration of the economics of HVDC connections is dependent on whether cable or overhead lines are used. In the case of overhead lines, it is true that HVDC is only economical above 600 km. For connections using seacables, however, the situation is different. There, HVDC is already more cost-effective from 50-60 km. At even greater distances, HVAC cables can no longer be used because of their high reactive power.
Therefore, HVAC would only make sense for the connection from Morocco to Spain.

So, once again, the issue boils down to social problems that keep technology from helping out. We're not mature enough to do the right things because it is the right thing to do. Imperialism is just another feature of late-stage capitalism we can do without to be free to solve the problems facing the world.

One of the problems would be storing the energy because during the night the Panels won't produce energy so they would need to store enough electricity to power the world during those hours

you know you can reforest a desert? especially using a lot of the organic waste that ends up in landfills and recycling centers. humans can control the planet. the landscape. the climate. people just dont know how to work together enough to make progress in a reasonable time frame

The Moltex molten salt nuclear reactor runs continuously while heating the same type of heat storing salt used in solar boilers. The heat is used to fill peaks in demand while the reactor runs continuously. Costs are cheaper than coal and you don’t need all the cabling of solar (any type) to connect the panels.

Solar panels lose efficiency over time and have to be replaced every 5 -10 years, which would be impossible to do if you have 10,000 square kilometers of solar panels. You also have factor in solar panels broken by animals and stolen by people.

they could donate the panels i guess... Like many other projects, I think it wasn't a well-thought plan but someone with big vision and hopes and eneded up wasting a lot of resources. A reality check is a must before starting. I also think that they must have primarily focused on the energy that can be produced instead cost of materials/labor/efficiency/time to the time the whole thing would be operational.
I believe there are always more convenient alternatives to the solutions we're looking for and that we should be willing to hear out other suggestions and have a constructive criticism/opinion before spending on such large projects 🤦‍♂️

That ship @15:28 is not an oil tanker, but a bulk carrier ship or what is also known as a bulker. Those panels on the ship's deck are hatches to access the bulk cargo, such as grain. Oil tankers don't have deck panels, but instead, a maze of pipes.

The cheap electricity can be used locally for smelting or high energy usage industrial products or produce hydrogen using the underground water. All these will benefit the local community and cheaper compressed hydrogen as fuel for generating electricity using fuel cells. Or even as fuel for aircraft.

This was really really interesting. I’ve never heard of concentrated solar, sounded like an awesome concept until you explained the pitfalls. This is one thing, regardless of the environmental benefits that I like about the switch to renewables, because it gives the opportunities for much more countries to have their own energy independence and not rely on energy that comes from other parts of the world just for basic power needs which have primarily been the driver of wars and conflict. The entire world shouldn’t have to crap itself because a 30 mile wide body of water in the Middle East is being fought over by the United States and whoever.

A good plan for africa would be:
1) a massive amount of solar power plants in the desert areas
1) giant marihuana farms where the land is green
3) produce paper from hemp to satisfy the world's need for paper thus binding tons of co2
4) export cannabis products worldwide for pharma industry
5) use all that's left of the plants to convert the biomass to sun fuel (synthtic fuel)
6) export sun fuel so there's no need for transferring electricity
- completely co2 neutral, no need for electric cars and no need to destroy woods for paper. Africa would have an environmental friendly industry and maybe rise to be a global power with this plan.

I thought Elon Musk said it was 20% of 1 Gw = 200 Mw for a square kilometer. Am I missing something here?
Also, transmission losses are a huge problem. Speaking of helping impoverished Algerians is getting ahead of yourself, as Algerian oil reserves have little effect on the average person living there.

It's very simple, too much sun...
As a guy who is Nigerian, I thought insanely heavy sun would basically give me infinite electricity,...turns out, it dosent really work that way

There is a solar panel developed that transmit sun in to H2. This can transmitted with ships al over the world. Also H2 can provided in nighttime to ensure the power.

Local infrastructure should always be used locally first.
Much more energy efficiency

General gist is that we need a total comprehensive solution that combines not just the energy resources itself, but also energy storage, transmissions and smart grids.

My ideas would solve pretty much *ALL* these problems
Let's grow super-efficient electromagnetic collectors using CRISPR, a specific fungus from Fraser Island, Australia, combined with glass sea sponge DNA! I believe we could grow super-efficient crystalline structures and harvest a much wider swath of the electromagnetic spectrum than ANY current solar technology :)

12:05 yes germany is investing in solar-power, but even more (&worse) they are investing in coal-energy, and are currently mining more coal for energy than ever before

What if instead of sending the power over grid, a local lab was made that would use the electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen? Agreed, the water WILL be a problem in desert. However, it can be brought to the place with some cost.
What this could do is store that energy to be used later. I assume the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen could be somehow used to produce electricity because the reaction would be exo-thermic.

My question regarding solar is how long do the panels last, especially given the wind-blown sandy environment, and when the panels require replacing, what happens to the waste? There is a hell of a lot of heavy metals in solar panels. Who pays for the clean-up, or is it left to the poor African countries to deal with?

This is all good information. I do think it’s better for our electric grids to be less centralized, and more decentralized, what with the relative ease of installing panels on homes or on a small scale to serve a small area. One thing that does perpetually annoy me, and I can’t really say many people agree with me on this- (I mean what asshole would object to solar energy?) that we tend to look at an area of the world that seems otherwise useless, and then make the decision to cram humongous amounts of material and structures on them without once considering regional effects to the existing ecosystem and local climate. There are heat islands in what most consider normal urban areas. Can you imagine how much more difficult survival would for desert species already living on the edge? The frequency of Maintenance of panels in biomes known for dust storms? I’m not saying that these things haven’t been addressed, or that i’m even right- but there’s just something I find profoundly arrogant about constructing a giant industrial facility in what is often perceived as unproductive wilderness ostensibly with the goal to reduce negative environmental impact.

We are already in need of a better way to store electricity and potentially move it to where (and when) it is needed. My vote goes to co-locating with the PV farm a plant to make and store ammonia as a better way to store hydrogen which can then be sold on.

How much is reflecting this concentrated light and heat back up affecting our atmosphere instead of it dissipating like it would naturally?

I have a small solar plant on my roof. It's shocking that I STILL am not paid for exporting electricity. Over half of what I produce is exported

I feel like it's also worth considering whether it's even wise to generate virtually all of Europe's power in one or two North African countries as well. It gives those countries immense leverage over the EU and it's not hard to imagine some future geopolitical crisis involving cutting power to all of Europe. While I think the solar Sahara project is of value I wouldn't go all in on that alone.

I am really confused that this concept gets spinned neo-imperialistic while it is supposed to be a contract-based system. If played rule-based, this ought to be a win-win-situation for all partners. Europe gets green energy supply and North African countries get a developed technology and means to harvest green energy that they can exploit for themselves.

Nuclear power doesn't have the same land requirements. It takes over 300 times the land area in solar panels as a nuclear power plant for the same amount of power. It's quite a shame that Germany refused to keep their biggest zero carbon power source for unreliable renewables and polluting coal.

Wow the first part of the video made me real angry, like just assuming that energy produced in Maghreb countries should go to Europe is such an insane continuation of colonialism
But you explained it well in the end