...we would cover Sahara desert with solar panels?

In today’s world fossil fuels are getting less and less because we use way more than the earth can compensate and there will come a day were fossil fuels are either that rare that you can barely pay for them or  are even gone at all. That is why the new solution to energy problems are renewable energies such as solar power, wind power or water powers.

Right now we only use a small amount of renewable power sources but the amount is increasing every year. And who knows, maybe all our power will come from renewable energies in a few years.

Especially solar panels are already quite common as many people have them on the roof of their houses to produce their private power. For general use there are big solar farms, which are a bit complicated to build because they need a location with a lot of space and a lot of sunshine. A place that would fit this description is the Sahara desert. So what if we would cover Sahara desert with solar panels? Would that be possible? Could it even be the solution to our energy problems?

Scientists calculated that within six hours the worlds deserts receive more solar energy than all humans could use in a year. This means that by covering only 1.2% of the Sahara we could produce enough energy for the whole world.

But how would the power get to everyone? Even though it could be very good for the African economy to export sustainable energy there are some big problems that must be faced. First of all the existing electrical grids in Africa are not very reliable. But even with new electrical grids there is no way of preventing a power loss up to 10% caused by transporting the power over such a long distance which makes the whole project very expensive.

To realize an expensive long term project like this one, several countries would have to be involved and investors would be needed.

Another disadvantage of solar power is that there are always a few hours during the night with no power. However storing the energy is not really an option, as the batteries are difficult and expensive to manufacture, produce a lot of pollution and would not really be suitable to use in a harsh environment such as the Sahara. The maintaining of the solar panels could be problematic too. Not only because of all the dust and the sand but especially because the big differences in temperature during night and day are not good for the material.

Moreover deserts are fragile and complex ecosystems. In comparison to the light color of the Sahara sand the solar panels are black and therefore absorb a lot more sunlight instead of reflecting it, which leads to a rise of temperature. And this is only one possible change because you can never tell for sure what other regional or global effects there would be.

All in all covering the Sahara desert with solar panels could theoretically solve our energy problems but in reality it is very difficult and unrealistic. Furthermore, the risk of unpredictable changes on the climate of the whole world is just too big. Maybe it is a better idea to start smaller first and use solar panels as energy source for small African villages for example.