Saharan solar farms to power Europe?

12 companies forming the Desertec Industrial Initiative have put together a $555 billion (yes, billion with a ‘b’) idea to supply 15% of the total power needed by the entire continent of Europe by installing solar concentration farms in Saharan Africa.  The plan also includes seawater desalination plants that are supposed to bring fresh water to the people of Africa.  This would be the largest renewable energy project in the world.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of it, but something just does not seem right with this.  Unfortunately solar concentration facilities generally need a ton of water to zap into steam and run turbines, so this would mean that the desalination plants would need to supply the solar concentrators first and then the people of the region second.  The other thing that worries me is the fact that this sounds too good to be true, which is generally an indicator that it is.  This strikes me as an Enron-esque in size, and a lot of organized crime happens these days under the guise of environmental and humanitarian efforts.  This is all just opinion here folks, and I have no evidence at this time to back me up other than that “gut feeling”.

Cheers and good luck to these guys if they are the real deal.  See more about this on Inhabitat.