A plan to turn the desert sunshine of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) into electricity, both for the region and for export to Europe, has been criticised for ignoring the needs of local people and the science community.
Critics say that the Desertec Industrial 
Initiative’s (Dii) centralised, top-down approach means that electrification may not benefit the desert people and may stifle capacity-building in the region’s science community.
They were speaking on the sidelines of the Solar Energy for Science Symposium in Germany this week (19–20 May), held to push the project forward and explore the potential for scientific collaborations between Europe and MENA.
The symposium was organised by the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), with Egypt’s Academy of Scientific Research and Technology and the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME), in Jordan.
Desertec aims to harness the huge solar and wind resources across the deserts of MENA, delivering up to 15 per cent of Europe’s electricity needs by 2050 via high-voltage transmission lines. Feasibility studies are on the way after which funding of up to US$400 billion will be sought. Hamed El-Mously, chairman of the Egyptian Society for Endogenous Development of Local Communities, said the project was ignoring the wishes of local people. Desert people have not
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