Should solar power stations be built in desert areas?

As renewable energy development is accelerating globally, more and more PV power stations are built in desert areas to meet the growing demand for sustainable energy (Kruitwagen et al., 2021; Li et al., 2018).

What if the desert was covered with solar panels?

If 1.2% of the desert—around 110,000 square kilometers—is covered with solar panels, it would be enough to satisfy the entire world’s energy needs. In addition to this, the desert has extremely low rainfall, little to no cloud cover, limited wildlife and negligible human populations.

Can PV power stations be deployed in desert areas?

The deployment sites of PV power stations in desert areas can be divided into: vegetation-covered areas and non-vegetation-covered areas. Before the PV power stations deployment, the soils usually need to be graded, resulting in vegetation removal (Hernandez et al., 2014). Fig.

Can solar PV power plants be installed in deserts?

Desertification leaves less genuinely usable space for agriculture and living for most of mankind. Due to this development, thinking about efficient ways to use otherwise mostly deserted space comes into mind – one of which is the installation of solar PV power plants in deserts.

Could large solar farms in the Sahara Desert redistribute solar power?

Large solar farms in the Sahara Desert could redistribute solar power generation potential locally as well as globally through disturbance of large-scale atmospheric teleconnections, according to simulations with an Earth system model.

Can solar power a desert?

of all deserts with solar panels, and you generate enough electricity to power the world. In other words, if we’re looking for energy—and of course, we are—those sandy sunny spots are a good place to start. But statistics are one thing, building a few thousand gigawatts of solar power is quite another. Deserts are dusty, windblown and remote.