Japanese University Develops Superconducting Technology to Transmit Solar Power from Desert Areas

Image by David Domingo. Some Rights Reserved.

A team of scientists including Dr. Sataro Yamaguchi, a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Chubu University, announced plans to generate solar power in the Sahara Desert at the Asia-Arab Sustainable Energy Forum held on August 24, 2011. The project is slated for implementation by 2030.

Yamaguchi's team plans to produce solar cells using silica, a major component of desert sand, and generate electricity from solar energy instead of fossil fuels. As a means of transmitting the electricity, Yamaguchi's group at Chubu University has been developing superconducting wires that can minimize electricity loss in the transmission process. In 2010, the group successfully completed the world's first experiment aimed at sending direct current electricity through a 200-meter-long transmission line using superconductors.

The Sahara Solar Breeder Project, the project's name, is a joint initiative of Japan and North African countries. It was presented at the G8+5 Academies' Meeting held on March 26 and 27, 2009. According to the team, it would be theoretically possible to generate enough electricity to meet the world's current energy needs if photovoltaic panels were installed in four percent of the world's deserts.

Japanese University Opens World's First Lab to Study DC Power Transmission Using Superconductors (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/029951.html

Posted: 2011/12/13 06:00:15 AM

TAG Energy , Technology , University/Research institute