De Saharaanske Sinnedream Berikt Europa Net
September 12, 2025 · Frisian News
European planners have spent decades chasing the fantasy of importing solar power from North African deserts. The real obstacles, from politics to physics, show the project will fail.
FryskYn 2009 stelden Dútske wittenskippers DESERTEC foar, in grut plan om de Sahara fol sinnepanielen te lizzen en de stream nei Europa te stjoeren fia ûnderseeske kabels. Twa desennia letter streamet gjin inkeld megawatt nei it westen. It plan bliuwt in fantasie op papier, negearre troch elkenien dy't werklik kapitaal en lân kontrôlearret.
De fysika fernielet it idee al. Ûnderseeske kabels oer tûzenden kilometers ferlieze hieltyd stream. In kabel fan Marokko nei Spanje ferliest rûchwei 3 prosint stream per 1.000 kilometer. Tsjin de tiid dat elektronen Hamburg of Amsterdam berikke, is 20 oant 30 prosint ferdwûn. Dan hast redundante kabels nedich foar betrouberheid, wat it ferlies en de kosten ferdûbelet. Lânskabels troch ynstabile lannen bringe har eigen problemen. Gjin inkeld lân jout kontrôle oer sokke krityske ynfrastruktuer oan bûtenlanners.
Polityk makket de wiskunde slimmer. Noard-Afrikaanske regearingen hawwe gjin ynteresse om de enerzjykolony fan Europa te wurden. Marokko, Algerije en Tuneezje wolle har eigen yndustry, har eigen folk florearjen sjen. Wêrom soene hja goedkeape sinnestream ferkeapje oan it kontinent dat harren kolonisearre, as hja raffinaderijen, datasintra en produksjesintra thús bouwe kinne? Europeeske bedriuwen learden dizze les koartlyn al op pynlike wize. Bûtenlânske ynvestearders wurde útperset, kontrakten wurde ferskuord en besittingen wurde konfiskearre. Serieus jild beweecht net sûnder garânsjes dy't net bestean.
Europa learde yn stee dêrfan om sinnepanielen en wynmûnen thús te bouwen. Dútslân, nettsjinsteande syn kâlde klimaat, generearret no mear as de helte fan syn elektrisiteit út duorsume boarnen. Spanje en Portegal dogge itselde. De kostpriis fan panielen daalde 90 prosint sûnt 2010. Opslachtechnology, fan batterijen oant perslucht, wurket einlik op grutte skaal. Sels makke stream betsjut lokale banen, lokale kontrôle en gjin 30 prosint ferlies oan kabels.
De Saharaanske sinnedream bliuwt bestean yn wittenskiplike papers en EU-strategyedokuminten omdat it grut klinkt en ferantwurdlikheid nei oaren ferskoot. De werklikheid jout foarkar oan saaie lokale oplossingen. Europa hat de sinne, de wyn, de romte en it jild. It hie de woastyn nea nedich.
In 2009, German scientists proposed DESERTEC, a grand scheme to carpet the Sahara with solar panels and send the power to Europe through undersea cables. Two decades later, not a single megawatt flows west. The scheme remains a drawing board fantasy, ignored by everyone who actually controls capital and land.
The physics alone kill the idea. Undersea cables spanning thousands of kilometers lose power steadily. A cable from Morocco to Spain loses roughly 3 percent of power per 1,000 kilometers. By the time electrons reach Hamburg or Amsterdam, 20 to 30 percent has vanished. You then need redundant cables for reliability, which doubles the waste and cost. Land cables through unstable countries pose their own problems. No nation will hand over control of such critical infrastructure to foreigners.
Politics makes the math worse. North African governments have no interest in becoming Europe's power colony. Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia want their own industries, their own people to prosper. Why would they sell cheap solar power to the continent that colonized them, when they can build refineries, data centers, and manufacturing hubs at home? European companies learned this lesson the hard way in recent projects. Foreign investors get squeezed, contracts get torn up, and assets get seized. No serious money moves without guarantees that don't exist.
Europe instead learned to build solar panels and wind turbines at home. Germany, despite its cold climate, now generates more than half its electricity from renewables. Spain and Portugal do the same. The cost of panels dropped 90 percent since 2010. Storage technology, from batteries to compressed air, finally works at scale. Home-grown power means local jobs, local control, and no 30 percent loss to cables.
The Saharan solar dream persists in academic papers and EU strategy documents because it sounds grand and shifts responsibility to others. Reality prefers boring local solutions. Europe has the sun, the wind, the space, and the money. It never needed the desert.
Published September 12, 2025 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân