Could the Sahara be transformed into a solar farm?

In fact, around the world are all located in deserts or dry regions. it might be possible to transform the world’s largest desert, the Sahara, into a giant solar farm, capable of meeting the world’s current energy demand. Blueprints have been drawn up for projects in and that would supply electricity for millions of households in Europe.

Do solar panels cover Sahara?

Global temperature, rainfall and surface wind changes in simulations with 20 and 50 percent solar panel coverage of Sahara. Some important processes are still missing from our model, such as dust blown from large deserts. Saharan dust, carried on the wind, is a vital source of nutrients for the Amazon and the Atlantic Ocean.

Do solar farms increase temperature in the Sahara Desert?

It showed there could be unintended effects in remote parts of the land and ocean that offset any regional benefits over the Sahara itself. Covering 20 percent of the Sahara with solar farms raises local temperatures in the desert by 1.5°C according to our model. At 50 percent coverage, the temperature increase is 2.5°C.

Where are solar farms located?

Clockwise from top left: Bhadla solar park, India; Desert Sublight solar farm, US; Hainanzhou solar park, China and Ouarzazate solar park, Morocco. Google Earth, Author provided used a climate model to simulate the effects of lower albedo on the land surface of deserts caused by installing massive solar farms.

What happens if a solar panel lands over the Sahara?

Roughly the same amount of additional rainfall that falls over the Sahara due to the surface-darkening effects of solar panels is lost from the Amazon. The model also predicts more frequent tropical cyclones hitting North American and East Asian coasts.

Could the world's largest desert be transformed into a solar farm?

Researchers imagine it might be possible to transform the world’s largest desert, the Sahara, into a giant solar farm, capable of meeting four times the world’s current energy demand. Blueprints have been drawn up for projects in Tunisia and Morocco that would supply electricity for millions of households in Europe.