CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER AND THE CREATION OF A HIGH VOLTAGE DIRECT CURRENT GRID

That this House notes that Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology, a means of capturing solar energy from deserts, has the potential to generate a substantial proportion of Europe's future electricity needs; notes that it would be feasible and cost-effective to transmit energy derived from desert based CSP plants in North Africa to Europe via the creation of a high voltage direct current (HVDC) super-grid, as this would restrict transmission losses to just three per cent. per 1,000 km; further notes that the cost of collecting solar thermal energy equivalent to the energy output of one barrel of oil is currently about US$50 and is likely to fall to around US$20 in the future, which is substantially less than the current world price of oil; welcomes the work that has been done by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Co-operation (TREC) in promoting the development of CSP and an integrated Europe and North Africa-wide HVDC super-grid; and calls on the Government to endorse TREC's proposals formally and to work with its international partners to advance the concept.