Concentrating Solar Power: Oasis or Mirage?

Covered by concentrating solar power plants, less than one percent of the world

CSP, or solar thermal, refers to the different ways to concentrate solar energy with panels and mirrors to heat up water and generate steam. Huge projects have already been built in Spain, Australia, and a 280-Megawatt (MW) plant in Arizona will be generating enough electricity for 70,000 homes by 2011 on otherwise unproductive desert land.

“The potential is absolutely colossal,” says German physicist Gerhard Knies. “In principle, all of the world’s energy needs could be met from less than one percent of the world’s desert areas, although it would be advisable to develop other sources of renewable energy as well.”

Knies is well-known, at least among clean energy enthusiasts, for his map of North Africa, on which he placed three red squares of varying sizes. Each square illustrates how much of the Sahara would have to be covered by CSP facilities to produce enough electricity for Germany, Europe, and the whole world.

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