By Magdalena A K Muir, EUCC Advisory Board
There is potential along much of Europe’s coastline and seas for wind farms and ocean energy, including southern Europe and Mediterranean region. The southern seas of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea will also be used to transfer renewable energy from northern Africa to Europe through the expansion of the European electricity grid and submerged high voltage electricity transmission lines. As most of new renewable power in Europe use weather-dependent variable sources such as wind, wave, tidal and solar, this can only be achieved in the most efficient and cost-effective way if substantive changes the existing electricity grid to maintain system stability.
Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) is a German-led initiative that proposes that electricity be generated from solar power in North Africa, with that power then transferred in the region and to Europe through high voltage transmission lines. The Medgrid Alliance (Medgrid) is French-led initiative to promote the development of an electrical power transmission and interconnection grid around and through the Mediterranean Sea. Recently, Dii and Medgrid signed an agreement to strengthen their co-operation on the development of industrial-scale renewable energy from the deserts and a suitable transmission infrastructure. The co-operation is supported by the Polish Presidency of the European Union Council, the European Energy Commission, and the French and German governments.
For remote coasts and islands, offshore and on land wind farms (as well as ocean energy), combined with hydrogen storage/dams and hydraulic storage can substitute for expensive and polluting imported diesel fuel generation. For example, renewable energy can be combined with desalination facilities to alleviate the water shortages caused by higher temperature and changing precipitation patterns. In remote Greek islands, in order to reduce subsidized diesel and water supplies and increase renewable energy, there are proposals for wind-powered pumped hydro storage (wind-hydro) solutions. There would be wind turbines spread over the island, a water pumping station able to absorb the wind power surplus of the system, a small hydroelectric power plant able to meet the desired percentage of the peak load demand, and two water reservoirs (an upper and a lower one) working in closed circuit along with the corresponding pipelines. For islands where a hydro option is not feasible, diesel could be used to backstop intermittent wind production.
Researchers in the Canary Islands, Spain, have been developing stand-alone desalination plants that could provide water for a small village. On one Canary Island test site, photovoltaic panels are hooked up to a battery, which feeds a steady supply of electricity to the desalination plant. Other solutions in the Canary Islands make use of wind power. In one, a small wind-energy converter powers a seawater plant designed to operate even with the stops and starts of wind power. In another, a small wind farm creates a small stand-alone electricity grid that then feeds electricity to the desalination plant. A third plant uses biodiesel to power desalination.The Canary island of El Hierro, with a population of 10,000 people, has a project in which eventually 100 percent of the island’s energy needs will be served by renewable energy through a grid. This grid will also power desalination plants that supply all the island’s drinking water and irrigation needs. It is envisioned all these project could serve as a model for future desalination projects in small developing islands.
For more information, please see EUCC presentation by Magdalena Muir: Implementation of Offshore Wind Power and Potential of Tidal, Wave and Ocean Current Energy, prepared for Sustainable Use of Oceans in the Context of Green Economy and Eradication of Poverty, Principality of Monaco, November 28, 2011. http://www.eucc.net/en/climate_change/SustainableOceans-MarineRenewableEnergy-MAKMuir-Dec5-2011-Revd.pdf

See also:

http://www.desertec.org/

http://www.medgrid-psm.com/

http://www.medgrid-psm.com/en/2011/11/dii-and-medgrid-join-forces/