Sahara solar panel farm 'the size of Wales' will power European cities

A series of huge solar panel farms in the Sahara desert could be the key to cutting Europe's carbon footprint, according to scientists planning to harness the power of the sun.

The ambitious vision is at the heart of scheme for a new £35.7billion supergrid that would allow European countries to share electricity from eco-friendly sources.

The solar panels would cover an area just smaller than the size of Wales and experts claim that it could supply the entire continent with green electricity.

The idea has been backed by Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The intense sunlight in the North African desert could produce up to three times more electricity than similar solar photovoltaic panels in Northern Europe.

Speaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said that the panels would only need to capture 0.3 per cent of the sunlight falling in the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy requirements.

The idea was discussed last month as part of the newly formed Mediterranean Union, launched at a summit in Paris.

The electricity would be transmitted along high voltage direct current cables. These would also allow countries such as the UK and Denmark to export wind energy and import energy from other green sources.

The current largest solar energy roofplant is in Munich. This would be dwarfed by the new Sahara project

The cost of building the high voltage lines could cost up to £1billion a year until 2050. By then the solar farms could produce 100GW.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, gave his support to the scheme.
'Assuming it's cost-effective, a large-scale renewable energy grid is just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change.'

It was recently predicted by the International Energy Agency that the world needs to invest more then $45tn (£22.5tn) in energy systems over the next 30 years.