IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v50y2013icp628-636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Miracle or mirage? The promise and peril of desert energy part 1

Author

Listed:
  • Cooper, Christopher
  • Sovacool, Benjamin K.

Abstract

Consisting of two parts, this article explores the history and challenges facing the Gobitec project in China, Japan, Mongolia and South Korea, an ambitious proposal to build a multibillion dollar solar power system in the Gobi desert that then exports electricity throughout Northeast Asia. After detailing its primary methods of data collection—research interviews, site visits, and a literature review—this first part of the study details the history of the Gobitec concept and its close relation to the Desertec concept in North Africa and Europe. It then discusses the “promise” of very large solar systems in deserts, namely improved security of supply and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, the second part of our study finds that such projects also face a list of serious – and perhaps insurmountable – technical, economic, political, and social barriers. That second part concludes by drawing implications for large-scale energy projects and energy policymaking more broadly.

Suggested Citation

  • Cooper, Christopher & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2013. "Miracle or mirage? The promise and peril of desert energy part 1," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 628-636.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:50:y:2013:i:c:p:628-636
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2012.07.027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148112004533
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2012.07.027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lilliestam, Johan & Ellenbeck, Saskia, 2011. "Energy security and renewable electricity trade--Will Desertec make Europe vulnerable to the "energy weapon"?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3380-3391, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Ben & Li, Peiwen & Chan, Cholik, 2015. "Application of phase change materials for thermal energy storage in concentrated solar thermal power plants: A review to recent developments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 286-307.
    2. Kumar, Anil & Prakash, Om & Kaviti, Ajay Kumar, 2017. "A comprehensive review of Scheffler solar collector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 890-898.
    3. Xu, Xinhai & Vignarooban, K. & Xu, Ben & Hsu, K. & Kannan, A.M., 2016. "Prospects and problems of concentrating solar power technologies for power generation in the desert regions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1106-1131.
    4. Van de Graaf, Thijs & Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2014. "Thinking big: Politics, progress, and security in the management of Asian and European energy megaprojects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 16-27.
    5. Escribano Francés, Gonzalo & Marín-Quemada, José María & San Martín González, Enrique, 2013. "RES and risk: Renewable energy's contribution to energy security. A portfolio-based approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 549-559.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Otsuki, Takashi & Mohd Isa, Aishah Binti & Samuelson, Ralph D., 2016. "Electric power grid interconnections in Northeast Asia: A quantitative analysis of opportunities and challenges," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 311-329.
    2. Johansson, Bengt, 2013. "A broadened typology on energy and security," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 199-205.
    3. Escribano Francés, Gonzalo & Marín-Quemada, José María & San Martín González, Enrique, 2013. "RES and risk: Renewable energy's contribution to energy security. A portfolio-based approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 549-559.
    4. Tebibel, Hammou & Labed, Sifeddine, 2013. "Performance results and analysis of self-regulated PV system in Algerian Sahara," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 691-700.
    5. Agostini, Claudio A. & Guzmán, Andrés M. & Nasirov, Shahriyar & Silva, Carlos, 2019. "A surplus based framework for cross-border electricity trade in South America," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 673-684.
    6. Overland, Indra & Juraev, Javlon & Vakulchuk, Roman, 2022. "Are renewable energy sources more evenly distributed than fossil fuels?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 379-386.
    7. Kerber, Samuel W. & Gilbert, Alexander Q. & Deinert, Mark R. & Bazilian, Morgan D., 2021. "Understanding the nexus of energy, environment and conflict: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    8. Lili Li, 2014. "Empirical Research on the Relationship between China Export and New Energy Consumption," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 4(2), pages 229-237.
    9. Juan Li & Keyin Liu & Zixin Yang & Yi Qu, 2023. "Evolution and Impacting Factors of Global Renewable Energy Products Trade Network: An Empirical Investigation Based on ERGM Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-27, May.
    10. Hocine, Amine & Kouaissah, Noureddine, 2020. "XOR analytic hierarchy process and its application in the renewable energy sector," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Pierri, Erika & Binder, Ole & Hemdan, Nasser G.A. & Kurrat, Michael, 2017. "Challenges and opportunities for a European HVDC grid," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 427-456.
    12. Reichenberg, Lina & Hedenus, Fredrik & Mattsson, Niclas & Verendel, Vilhelm, 2022. "Deep decarbonization and the supergrid – Prospects for electricity transmission between Europe and China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    13. Hocine, Amine, 2018. "Meta goal programing approach for solving multi-criteria de Novo programing problemAuthor-Name: Zhuang, Zheng-Yun," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(1), pages 228-238.
    14. Lilliestam, Johan & Bielicki, Jeffrey M. & Patt, Anthony G., 2012. "Comparing carbon capture and storage (CCS) with concentrating solar power (CSP): Potentials, costs, risks, and barriers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 447-455.
    15. Alipour, Mohammad & Hafezi, Reza & Ervural, Bilal & Kaviani, Mohamad Amin & Kabak, Özgür, 2018. "Long-term policy evaluation: Application of a new robust decision framework for Iran's energy exports security," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 914-931.
    16. Mohamed, Hassen & Alimi, Mohsen & Ben Youssef, Slim, 2021. "The role of renewable energy in reducing terrorism: Evidence from Pakistan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 1088-1100.
    17. Fei Guo & Bas J. Ruijven & Behnam Zakeri & Shining Zhang & Xing Chen & Changyi Liu & Fang Yang & Volker Krey & Keywan Riahi & Han Huang & Yuanbing Zhou, 2022. "Implications of intercontinental renewable electricity trade for energy systems and emissions," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(12), pages 1144-1156, December.
    18. Sohail, Muhammad Tayyab & Din, Norashidah Md, 2024. "How do digital inclusion and energy security risks affect mineral resources trade? Evidence from world-leading mineral trading countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    19. Emily Cox, 2016. "Assessing energy security in a lowcarbon context: the case of electricity in the UK," SPRU Working Paper Series 2016-07, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    20. Fu, Xin & Yang, Yu & Dong, Wen & Wang, Changjian & Liu, Yi, 2017. "Spatial structure, inequality and trading community of renewable energy networks: A comparative study of solar and hydro energy product trades," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 22-31.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gobitec; Desertec; Solar energy;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:50:y:2013:i:c:p:628-636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.