There has been talk about harnessing solar energy from the northern regions of Africa, which has been claimed to be enough to power all of Europe in the years to come.

Industrial leaders in Europe and the Mediterranean are going to join to form the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), whose mission is going to be to transform European energy supplies. The concept behind the idea is that the Earth's deserts receive  enough energy to power manking for a year in only six hours. Desertec is going to try to join countries, regions, big companies and smaller industries to enter into a joint effort to harvest Sun's energy.

Desertec Foundation, a charitable initiative of the Club of Rome composed of dedicated citizens, will provide a suitable platform for this cooperation. The founding meeting of the Foundation will take place on July 13, this year, by invitation of Münchener Rück and the Desertec Foundation.

North African desert regions are going to be the key suppliers of solar energy, and feed the "super grid" with electricity. The red squares represent the area of the desert needed for generating power to satisfy the need of the corresponding region. (Image credit: Desertec.org)

Future projects in North Africa will consist of CSP (concentrated solar power) projects as they are the most optimal technology to use, cheaper than photovoltaics, and capable of delivering large scale power supply even at night, with the help of energy storage, using salts, water or oil. This technology has been proven to be a viable solution for large scale solar power generation, and is expected to become a competitive source of energy in the near future.

The Desertec Concept was developed by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) and a worldwide network of scientist, politicians, and entrepreneurs associated with the Club of Rome.