Dii Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA 2 Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA Energy is one of the crucial elements for life on earth. The Industries – engine for sustainable development main sources of energy that we use today are exhaustible and have an impact on our natural environment. In order to Dii is a unique industry initiative which has been launched secure living conditions for present and future generations a as ‘Desertec Industrial Initiative’ in July 2009. We aim at reliable and sustainable supply of energy will, thus, be one of creating­ the conditions for an accelerated implementation of the major challenges of mankind. the DESERTEC­ concept in EUMENA. Dii was founded under German­ law as a GmbH (limited liability company) in Munich The DESERTEC vision points at the enormous amounts of en­ on 30 October 2009. ergy that is being delivered every day by the sun to the deserts of our earth. They receive in six hours as much energy from Our joint venture was founded by 13 founding signatories. the sun as mankind consumes in one year. In addition, some The shareholder base and the company network will be broad­ deserts have very good wind sites. The deserts would enable ened as further companies from north and south of the Medi­ a secure, sufficient and affordable energy delivery for a world terranean area will join this industry initiative as shareholders of 10 billion people from clean and inexhaustible sources. or associated partners. Plenty of electric energy can be generated from these sources and existing technologies would be able to deliver this energy Dii is a private sector initiative. We seek and welcome all forms to over 90% of the world population each day and night. This of collaboration with leading or complementary inter national would include emerging applications such as energy for sea­ political and institutional initiatives such as the Mediterranean water desalination and power for electric mobility. Solar Plan (MSP) or the World Bank’s Clean Technology Fund (CTF) that are like us devoted to developing the markets for On the long term the DESERTEC concept could in a controlla­ large scale sustainable energy production and transmission. ble way complement all the other available sources of renewa­ ble energies as necessary for a secure and sustainable energy Dii’s activities focus on power generation from the sun and future. As a result of an expanding energy cooperation Europe wind in the deserts of the MENA countries and transmission (EU), the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) now have a to local demand and partly to the European interconnected unique chance to start a new era which is based on partner­ grid. Dii will objectively investigate and identify suitable tech­ ship and which could contribute to their joint prosperity. nologies for power generation and transmission. As a conse­ quence all field proven, feasible technologies for sun and wind energy conversion and long distance power transmission will be candidate for selection. This would for instance include CSP and PV technologies, AC and DC transmission and also different concepts for wind power. Dii aims to facilitating and encouraging investments in the framework of the DESERTEC concept, including knowledge transfer to the MENA area and the establishment of local industries. Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA 3 Deserts – a paradise for energy generation. 4 Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA It’s about connecting people, cultures and continents. EU Europe ME Middle East NA North Africa Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA 5 Our Mission The deserts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) offer The core elements of our mission excellent irradiation (‘sunshine’) conditions for large scale solar power generation. Additionally, some MENA regions • The focus of our activities will be on the sun and wind as are known for their good wind conditions, particularly along renewable sources of energy and transmission. We are the Atlantic coast and the Red Sea. not biased to any particular technology. Any technology selection shall fulfill objective criteria. Our mission is to enable the roll­out of the DESERTEC concept • Our regional focus will be on EUMENA, i.e. Europe, the with the target of supplying MENA and Europe with power pro­ Middle East and North Africa. duced from these sun and wind energy sources. The long­term • All of our activities up to 2012 will be aimed at creating goal is to satisfy both a substantial part of the energy needs conditions for viable business and investments. of the MENA countries and to meet about 15 % of Europe’s elec­ • From the very beginning the aim will be to start supplying tricity demand by 2050. electricity to the European Union and to generate sufficient power to meet the needs of the producer countries as soon All Dii shareholders have agreed on common objectives for as possible. The aim is to supply around 15 % of Europe‘s this joint venture. electricity by 2050. • Our work will not be limited to individual aspects of the Our core objectives are to DESERTEC concept. The approach adopted in investigating power generation, transmission and sale will always be • analyze and develop a technical, economic, political a holistic one, and will also take into account the political and regulatory framework for feasible investments into and social parameters and the development needs of the renewable energy and interconnected grids producer and transit countries (for example, combination • originate some early reference projects to prove the with seawater desalination) feasibility of the concept • develop a long term roll­out plan for the period up to 2050 providing investment and financing guidance • conduct in­depth studies on specific subjects, e.g. siting issues, technology developments or specific conditions in order to provide answers to key questions that will come along on our path Dii will work on these objectives in close cooperation with the DESERTEC Foundation, a non­governmental organisation that acts as the worldwide promoter of the DESERTEC concept. For detailed information see www.desertec.org 6 Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA Dii www.abb.com Shareholders www.abengoasolar.com Dii’s shareholder structure stands for a unique broad www.cevital.com bundling of international industrial expertise on high-level standard in all relevant fields: • Project development expertise www.desertec.org • Power generation from wind, sun (e.g. CSP/PV) and potentially biomass and geothermal energy • Plant construction • Grid technology, HVDC transmission, super grids and system studies e.g. ‘solar grid’ www.db.com • Power system control • Energy trading and long term contractual arrangements • Renewable Energy Certificate Systems (RECS) and/or feed­in subsidy systems in Europe and beyond www.eon.com • Financing and risk management, risk control and risk analyses for investments • Insurance of high­tech large scale assets during construction and in operation • Legal expertise www.hsh­nordbank.com • Knowledge transfer, education and training Providing this, Dii can utilise not only operational industrial expertise but also a high level network of political, scientific and society contacts in EUMENA region. Dii benefits from www.mwgroup.net global DESERTEC studies which are basis for the implemen­ tation plan in EUMENA region. www.man­solarmillennium.com www.munich­re.com www.rwe.com www.schottsolar.com www.siemens.com Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA 7 8 Dii – Enabling DESERTEC in EUMENA We are preparing for a new solar energy era Why are the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa so attractive to you? I regard the deserts as landing places for energy from our ‘big remote nuclear fusion reactor’, the sun. Although the global energy mix will most likely continue to remain very divers in this century we believe that large scale use of solar energy from the deserts will become one of the most impor­ tant climate­ friendly and economically attractive components of energy supply. We foresee a continued growth on energy demand in the upcoming decades. This will be true for North Africa, the Middle East and to a minor extent also for Europe. The presently used fossil fuel options have their long term limitations, they are subject to geopolitical volatility and they Mr van Son, you are the CEO of Desertec Industrial Initiative. produce CO2 emissions. It seems, thus, very logical to me to Can you describe your overall objectives? investigate the feasibility of substantial use of the energy from the deserts. The deserts offer a huge energy potential which Our aim is to pave the way for large scale production of elec­ so far remains widely unused and nowadays modern techno lo­ tricity from sun and wind in the deserts. Of course this shall be gies make it possible to harness this energy in an environmen­ both for the benefit of the MENA countries and Europe on the tally sound way. This all looks very attractive to me. This is one hand and for our shareholders and partners on the other where I wish to dedicate all of my forces to. hand. Energy from the deserts is inspired by the DESERTEC concept. Our initiative has emerged from the private sector that How are you approaching this mission? is determined to bring this concept into reality and to create new business chances. So far German, Spanish and Algerian First of all by building trust. The countries in North Africa and companies have teamed up together with the DESERTEC the Middle East are the owners of the sun and wind energy on Foundation to make this happen. What we ultimately aim for their territory and, hence, they are free to decide what will hap­ are substantial feasible investments in this field in order to pen with that energy and how they want to benefit from its use.