The raw materials are all around (Image: Bernhard Lang/Getty)

Life might take a hammering on the sun’s earthly anvil, the Sahara desert, but the two most abundant resources the desert has to offer – sunlight and sand – could help solar power to “breed” and thrive there.

The Sahara Solar Breeder Project is a joint initiative by universities in Japan and Algeria that aims to build enough solar power stations by 2050 to supply 50 per cent of the energy used by humanity.

The idea is to begin by building a small number of silicon manufacturing plants in the Sahara, each turning the desert sand into the high-quality silicon needed to build solar panels. Once those panels are operating, some of the energy they generate will be used to build more silicon plants, each churning out more solar panels and generating more energy that can be used to build even more plants, and so on.


Hideomi Koinuma at the University of Tokyo leads the Japanese end of the project. He admits that making silicon panels from the rough sands of the Sahara or other deserts has not been attempted before, but says it is a logical choice.

“From the viewpoints of quality, quantity and chemistry, Sahara sand is hard to beat for use as silicon for solar cells,” he says.

Rivals for power

The Algerian-Japanese effort is by no means alone in targeting the Sahara for solar power. The Desertec Foundation, set up last year to promote “clean power from deserts”, also aims to generate solar power in the region.

Desertec has a more modest goal – it is dedicated to supplying only 15 per cent of Europe’s electricity by 2050. Nor does Desertec plan to use Sahara sand for its solar panels.

Desertec hails the new breeder project as “a positive contribution towards climate protection”. However, a spokesman said he was puzzled over the choice of energy delivery by the new scheme.

Koinuma wants to use “high-temperature” superconductors to distribute the power as direct current – more efficient than a conventional alternating current. Despite their name, high-temperature superconductors typically operate at around -240 °C, and the long power lines will require a formidable cooling system.

“There is not really a need for superconductors. By using high-voltage direct current transmission lines it is possible to transport clean power from the deserts over long distances to centres of consumption,” says the Desertec spokesman – adding that the technology is already used in dozens of projects worldwide.

“Transmission losses are fairly low – around 3 per cent per 1000 kilometres. Unlike superconductors, there is no need for cooling, while power transmission costs are just 1¢ to 2¢ per kilowatt-hour.”

Koinuma disagrees. He sees the potential for linking the Sahara-powered stations to a special network of supercooled high-voltage DC grids for transporting electricity 500 kilometres or more.

“Even if we need to cool the grid line with liquid nitrogen, the system could be cost-competitive,” he claims.