26 News of the "Solar Plan" ("Plan Solaire" / "Solarplan") of the "Union for the Mediterranean" ("Union pour la Méditerranée" / "Union für das Mittelmeer"):
Solarplan.pdf (version: 2008-07-24, 3:30pm)

The DESERTEC Concept of TREC brings deserts and technology into service for global security of energy, water and the climate. To this end we propose that the regions of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA) begin to cooperate in the production of electricity and desalinated water using concentrating solar thermal power plants and wind turbines in the MENA deserts. These technologies can supply the growing demands for power and seawater desalination in the MENA region, and produce clean electrical power that can be transmitted via High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines to Europe (with overall transmission losses of about 10-15%). From a political point of view, implementing DESERTEC in countries like Australia, China, India and the USA, will be even easier.

The technologies that are needed to realise the DESERTEC Concept are already developed and some of them have been in use for decades. Several studies by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) confirm the viability of this concept and the advantages of realising it very soon. All that is needed now is the political will and the right framework of incentives.

Since the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) was founded in 2003 by The Club of Rome, the Hamburg Climate Protection Foundation and the National Energy Research Center of Jordan (NERC), it has developed the DESERTEC Concept and completed the necessary research in cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Now TREC is making this concept a reality in cooperation with people in politics, industry and the world of finance.

The core of TREC is an international network of scientists, politicians and other experts in the field of renewable forms of energy and their development. The members of TREC (about 60 in number, including His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan) are in regular contact with national governments and with private investors, aiming to communicate the benefits that may be obtained from the cooperative use of solar energy and wind energy.  TREC is also developing concepts and promoting specific projects in this field. Regional DESERTEC networks disseminate the ideas in their home countries.