Due to its particular conditions, the Sahara desert represents a gigantic blank canvas for the renewable energy of tomorrow. Always sunny and exposed to endless gusts of wind, the nine million kilometers of sand and rock that monopolize the northern fringe of the African continent could be a mine for solar and wind energy. What if we turned the Sahara into a brutal field of solar panels and windmills?
On the one hand, perhaps we would solve the sustainable energy supply in the Maghreb and in Europe. On the other, that we could possibly transform the Sahara forever.
Unexpected effects. A study has relied on the environmental consequences of the massive installation of solar panels or wind turbines. Their conclusions are surprising: such an intervention would alter the delicate climatic balances of the desert, causing rainfall to increase in the medium and long term. And that where once only sand existed, vegetation would begin to flourish.
Why? It can be summarized as: the combined effect of the turbines and the panels would increase the temperatures of the region by up to 2ºC; Low pressure zones would be generated as a result of the effect of windmills, natural obstacles to the free movement of the wind; and more rainfall would be attracted, as a result of the two previous factors. Researchers have relied on other work and models that have consistently evidenced the disruptive nature of turbines and panels in numerous ecosystems. They generate more heat and lower pressures.
How? On a small scale it has limited impact. But in a hypothetical scenario in which we turn the Sahara into the great (green) energy supplier of the future, the consequences would be dramatic. The desert plays a crucial role in the European and African climate balance, as well as having a relevant role in shaping the air or sea currents that shape the Atlantic. The study, above all, seeks to warn of something often overlooked by the rulers of renewable energy: installing mills or panels is not neutral for the environment.
It has consequences. Often dramatic.
Positive? The character of such consequences can be negative, but also positive. In the researchers’ opinion, “the effects on the regional climate would be more beneficial than harmful (…) which illustrates how, in addition to avoiding greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, wind and solar energy could have other effects. unexpected weather benefits “. To a large extent, due to the greening of the Sahara, a process that would slow down the climatic emergency faced by millions of people in the Sahel as a result of desertification.
Plausible? Of course, the work is hypothetical and part of a Sahara covered in solar panels and turbines. To this day the Sahara remains a desert, not the great epicenter of world energy capable of supplying more than half of humanity. There are projects like the Sahara Solar Breeder Project that aspire to fill it with solar panels as early as 2050. Its potential is gigantic, given its size, its climatic conditions and its low population density.
Image: Peter Schulz / Unsplash