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An enormous solar power farm in the Sahara desert could supply power to 2.5 million homes in the UK.

TuNur - in Tunisia - would be a 100 square kilometre array of computer-controlled mirrors that track the sun and reflect the light towards a central tower.

The tower acts as a 'receiver' of the solar energy and absorbs the heat into pipes filled with salt.

The molten salt gets extremely hot and is used to heat water. This creates steam, which powers a turbine to generate electricity.

Because the salt retains heat for such long time, this sort of plant can generate electricity even when it's cloudy or during the night.

The electricity would be transported to Europe via a 450-kilometre submarine cable travelling from Tunisia to Italy. From this point the electricity can be fed into the European grid.

Investors in TuNur are currently seeking funding from the UK government. This is because there are new rules that allow developers of renewable energy projects that aren’t based in the UK to bid for contracts that guarantee subsidies to supply power.

If TuNur wins a contract from the British government it could bring two gigawatts of solar power to the UK.

The company has been carrying out research in the Tunisian desert for more than three years and has spent more than 10 million euros developing the site.

The news follows the collapse of a similar project called Desertec, which aimed to export solar power generated in the Middle East and Africa. The plan was to try and generate as much as 15 percent of Europe’s energy by 2050, but it failed to attract enough funding.

TuNur was a member of the consortium, but says it can deliver on its promise. Kevin Sara, chief executive of TuNur told the BBC that Desertec was a consortium that was trying to develop an idea, but that “we have a singular project which we are trying to realise”.

"We are able to deliver dispatchable, low-carbon electricity to the UK more cheaply than offshore wind and more cheaply than nuclear - all we're asking for is the chance,” he added.

If TuNur is granted a government contract, it could start supplying electricity to the UK by 2024.