Solar power is the generation of electricity from sunlight. This can be direct as with photovoltaics (PV), or indirect as with concentrating solar power (CSP), where the sun’s energy is focused to boil water which is then used to provide power.
Available renewable energy is given on the following picture:
Available Renewable Energy
Sketch of possible infrastructure for a sustainable supply of power to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (short: EU-MENA):
The red squares indicate the space needed for solar collectors to produce the present power for the world (18.000 TWh/y, 300×300 km2), for Europe (EU 3.200 TWh/y, 125×125 km2) and for Germany or MENA (Middle East and North Africa, about 600 TWh/y, 55×55 km2).
The square labeled “TRANS-CSP Mix EUMENA 2050″ 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 (2,940 TWh/y in total).
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REFERENCES:
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_resources_and_consumption
IMAGES:
Name- Available Energy
Source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Available_Energy-4.png
Image has been released into the public domain
Name- DESERTEC Map large
Source- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DESERTEC-Map_large.jpg
Author- TREC (Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation)
Licensing- Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic
