Here Comes Saudi Arabia.....

Not only are the Saudis the kings of oil but they are also looking at the title "Kings of Solar." Saudia Arabia is in the middle of the "Sun Belt" which encompasses the areas of northwest Africa all the way to eastern Central Asia. Europeans are aiming to become very chummy with the Saudis in order to tap into the tremendous amount of solar power that can be obtained there.

The Europeans have formed The "Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation", or TREC. Their aim is to build a "transmission supergrid." This supergrid will funnel the energy from solar thermal power plants and wind turbines through long distance power lines to supply energy to Europe. In the last few weeks the heads of Britain and France have publically backed the plan.

The problem is this is going to be a Very Expensive undertaking. They'll have to get all their political ducks in a row as well as acquiring mega funding from investors. The plan also has detractors such as Arnulf Jaeger-Walden who is a well known European energy authority. He said that less than 0.4% of of the solar energy that falls on the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East would satisfy all of Europe's energy needs.

But, then you have a representative of the Algerian government who runs a government backed energy company who claims "Our potential in thermal solar power is four times the world's energy consumption, so you can have all the ambitions you want with that."

It looks like solar power generation is and will become even more political, perhaps someday rivaling oil with world governments making claims and claiming stakes.

You can read more at CBC News Canada.