Siemens supports the Desertec initiative with environmentally friendly technology

Along with other industrial companies, Siemens Energy is participating in the Desertec initiative to provide sustainable energy supply to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. A corresponding Memorandum of Understanding has recently been signed in Munich. Environment friendly power generated at solar thermal power plants in the Sahara and wind farms in North Africa is to be transported to the load centers where the power is needed. A technical and financial concept will be developed.

The Project:

Sketch of possible infrastructure for a sustainable power supply

The Desertec concept describes sustainable power supply for Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa based on renewable energy sources. The power is to be generated by solar thermal power plants primarily located in northern Africa and by wind farms off the coast of northern Africa and northern Europe. Together with a number of renowned industrial companies Siemens has a commitment in the Desertec Industrial Initiative. The graphic indicates the space needed for solar collectors to supply the needs for seawater desalination and about two-thirds of the electricity consumption in MENA in the year 2050 and about one-fifth of the European electricity consumption by Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Plants. Siemens has a comprehensive portfolio for solar thermal power plants and low-loss transport of electrical energy over long distances: from steam turbines and solar receivers for solar thermal power plants and solutions for high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission. Siemens is also a world leader in offshore wind farms.

Copyright: DESERTEC

Wind energy backs up solar power:

A further module of the Desertec project is the installation of wind turbines off the coasts of Africa and Europe. Siemens is the market leader in offshore wind farms. The company supplies both wind turbines and the infrastructure for grid connections from one source. The Lillgrund offshore wind farm, located in the Öresund Sound between Malmö, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark, is the first project for which Siemens has provided both solutions.

 

Solar collectors supply environmentally friendly electricity

 

Solar thermal power plants play a key role in the Desertec project. Using solar collectors, water is transformed into steam which drives a turbine. Siemens is the market leader in steam turbines for solar thermal power plants. To date, it has already received almost 50 orders for especially adapted steam turbines with outputs ranging from 1.5 MW to 123 MW – including a 19-MW industrial steam turbine for the Solar Tres power tower facility in Spain.

The photos show the solar thermal power plant Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Colorado. Siemens delivered a steam turbine with a capacity of 64 MW to this facility.

Super transformer for power highways

The world’s first 800 kilovolt (kV: 800,000 volts) HVDC transformer (high-voltage direct current transmission) is key to the construction of efficient power highways. Previous HVDCT voltages amounted to a maximum of 500 kilovolts. The transformer is as tall as a detached house. It will be used for the first time in China, where a capacity of 5000 MW will be transported across 1400 km – with minimal loss of only five percent. The Desertec project will also need transformers like this one to transport the desert electricity from Africa to Europe.

 

"Desertec is a visionary project that can make a substantial contribution to sustainable power supply in the future energy mix," stated René Umlauft, CEO of the Renewable Energy Division at Siemens Energy. "The Desertec project unites sustainability, technological competence and visionary entrepreneurship – and precisely these features have been our strong points for more than 160 years. Siemens, with its broad portfolio of components for solar power plants, wind turbines and highly efficient power transmission, is the perfect technology partner for Desertec," adds Umlauft.

The potential is enormous. The earth’s desert regions receive more energy in a mere six hours than mankind consumes within an entire year. In the Sahara, the sun shines 4,800 hours per year, providing the potential to generate clean solar power. As a comparison, this is roughly three times more than in Germany. Solar power plants covering an area of 300 km by 300 km could meet the worldwide energy needs. The Desertec initiative aims to meet 15 to 20 percent of the European power demand using solar- and wind-based electricity by 2050.

Siemens offers a broad spectrum of environmental technologies, including solar thermal power plants photovoltaic plants, wind turbines and high-efficiency power transmission technology. Solar thermal power plants have been employed to generate environmentally friendly electricity for over 20 years and are currently experiencing a boom. Siemens is also the market leader for steam turbines for solar thermal power plants. With its share in the Italian company Archimede Solar, Siemens offers a future-oriented technology for solar receivers, which are also a key component for these power plants. The combination of these two technologies will allow Siemens to enhance the efficiency of these plants even further, which will ultimately lead to a reduction in the production costs of solar power.

Countries such as Morocco or Egypt also offer excellent potential for utilization of wind power. Siemens is among the leading suppliers of wind turbines in the world and is already the market leader for offshore wind farms.

Electricity generated in the desert regions of the Desertec project would then have to be transported over a distance of around 2,000 km from North Africa to consumers in Europe. Such distances pose no problem for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technologies. An HVDC project implemented by Siemens in China, for example, involved the transmission of 5,000 megawatts (MW) generated by hydro power plants in the country’s interior to megacities on the coast, located 1,400 km away. Thanks to this "electricity highway”, 95 percent of the power arrives at the load centers. By contrast, using traditional AC lines, approximately 400 MW would be lost during transmission, equal to the output of a medium-sized power plant or 160 wind turbines. These low transmission losses reduce the amount of CO2 released into the environment by three million metric tons per year.

Steam turbines and receivers for solar thermal power plants, as well as wind turbines and innovative HVDC transmission technology, are all part of the Siemens environmental portfolio. In fiscal 2008, revenue from products and solutions of the Siemens Environmental Portfolio was nearly EUR19 billion – roughly a quarter of Siemens’ total revenues.

Popularity: 2%

Related Posts:

1. The 12 Companies of the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII)

   On the 13th of July 12 companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Munich to establish a DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII). The objective of this initiative is to analyze...

2. Abengoa Solar – on of the Founding Partners of the Desertec Initative

   The project will promote renewable energy production in Northern Africa and the Middle East for local use and exportation to Europe.   Abengoa Solar has recently signed an agreement...

3. DONG Energy and Siemens announce the largest offshore wind turbine supply agreement in history

     Siemens to supply up to 500 wind turbines to DONG Energy’s coming offshore wind farms in Northern Europe Erlangen, Germany, March 06, 2009 Today DONG Energy and the Siemens...

4. Siemens with 450 Million EUR Contract for 88 Wind Turbines

   Siemens awarded major offshore wind power contract worth more than 450 Million EUR Erlangen, Germany, April 01, 2009 Siemens Energy has received an order from StatoilHydro and Statkraft to provide...