11.54 Renewable Energy Grids
North Africa and southern Europe is the best location for solar energy installations, while the coastline of northern Europe has the high winds required to power wind turbines. Moving the energy created at the edge of Europe into the central industrial areas is a challenge that, according to researchers at the German Aerospace Centre, could be met with a high voltage DC trans-Mediterranean renewable energy network. The researchers claim that energy losses across the network would be approximately 3% per 1,000 km.
It is interesting to speculate as to the impact of removing oil and gas from the geopolitics of North Africa and Europe.
