Desert solar

This page is about the suitability of desert lands (such as the Sahara) for large-scale solar power of any kind (such as conventional solar panels, low mineral solar panels, or concentrated solar thermal power).

Energy transmission

Main problem

Too far away

Only a small percent of the world population lives close enough to deserts. There probably aren't any scalable ways to transmit surplus electricity far enough for everyone else to use it. Best bet might be HVDC power lines.

Impact on wildlife

^{[RESEARCH needed]}

Deserts are nowhere near as biomass-rich as forests or grasslands, but they are still ecosystems, home to many native species.

Research needed for this page:

Case study a particular desert, such as the Sahara or the Mojave
- Which species tend to be affected
- How can the impacts be mitigated
  - Assuming half the desert would be covered in solar panels, what would be the best land-use arrangement to avoid extinctions of any species? To what extent do native species vary by subregion of the desert?

Energy production potential

Abundant

earth.land

148940000 km^2

Amount of land on Earth

https://ourworldindata.org/land-use

desert.land

33% earth.land

Amount of desert land on Earth

https://www.universetoday.com/65639/what-percentage-of-the-earths-land-surface-is-desert/

energy.tfc

9937.70 Mtoe/year

Global energy usage - total final consumption (TFC)

Includes: fuel (80.7%) + electricity (19.3%) AFTER it is generated
Does not include the fuel used in generating electricity. See [energy.tes] for that.
Citation: "Key World Energy Statistics 2020" IEA - Page 47: Simplified energy balance table: World energy balance, 2018

sunlight_average

200 watts per m^2

Solar irradiance, averaged over a whole year INCLUDING nights, cloudy days, etc.

Note: This varies somewhat by region.
https://www.newport.com/t/introduction-to-solar-radiation
http://www.ftexploring.com/solar-energy/insolation.htm

solar_panel.efficiency

17%

Efficiency of an average solar panel

Some solar panels are more efficient than this, but they tend to be expensive and contain more rare metals.

If even 1% of all deserts were covered in solar panels, it would, in theory, produce as much energy as the world consumes. [See maths] % desert.land(calculation loading) But as mentioned earlier, electricity transmission is the problem.