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The world today is facing increasing energy prices, diminishing fossil energy resources and rapidly increasing energy demand. Today, the price of oil is around $130/bbl. Over 60 oil-producing countries have already passed their production peaks; the exploitation of world oil reserves continues to outpace the discovery of new resources. At the same time, a 50% increase in world energy demand is expected by 2030, leading to tougher competition for diminishing resources. In addition, stronger regulations and limitations on greenhouse gas emissions are expected, severely limiting possibilities to use even the remaining, expensive fossil energy resources. The EU has decided to reduce GHG emissions 20-30% by 2020; Germany even aims at a 40% reduction. By 2050, the EU will need to reduce emissions by some 80%. Furthermore, the EU has decided to increase the use of renewable energies to 20% of total energy consumption by 2020. Unfortunately, the EU may find it difficult to achieve these targets with the current energy policy paradigm, as the potential for renewable energy within Europe is limited.
One possible solution is to utilise the enormous potential for solar and wind power in the deserts of North Africa. Renewable electricity from North Africa would be sufficient to satisfy the electricity needs of the Mediterranean and the rest of Europe many times over, and is therefore an interesting option for the future European energy system. However, the electricity would have to be transported over vast distances from North Africa to European load centres. Due to high transmission losses, long-distance transport is not feasible with the current AC system, even if the interconnection capacities were sufficient, which they are not. The technology to transport electricity efficiently over vast distances has been available for decades. An HVDC grid, or SuperSmart Grid (SSG), could integrate the European electricity market and connect it to neighbouring regions, such as North Africa, and their vast renewable energy resources. The SuperSmart Grid would operate “on top” of the current HVAC grid—only handling long-distance transmission—and existing AC grids would still distribute electricity over shorter domestic distances.
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