What If We Covered the Sahara With Solar Panels?

"lets assume the solar panels are 100% efficient" every engineer watching has a stroke

As a wise man once said: "easier said than done"

I'm surprised that you didn't mention that since the Sahara Desert is mostly sand, actually it doesn't have a defined surface, and, the winds make it constantly change, hills turning into valleys and vice versa.

Planting solar panels in the Sahara would also mean they'd need to be elevated as well considering that lowered panels could end up covered in sand from one wind storm.

African Solar Energy Superpower? Also, 60% of the world's GDP seems totally worth it for the energy.

Amazing idea. Too bad it won’t happen and the panels will probably be in the sand a day after being installed

After the first sand storm, half of the area with solar panels is 5m down under sand.

Imagine if the world was actually working on advancing its needs instead of competing with and fighting itself?

I still like the idea of just putting solar panels on every home. That space is already taken up

This guy emphasizes words like there’s no tomorrow

What is not realized is that solar Farms are super HOT... I worked at a small area with maybe 500 panels and it was 20-30° Hotter. It could be 100° Outside but that specific solar panel area was 130ish. If it can get that much hotter i couldn't imagine how much hotter the Sahara would get.

Well, for effective use, the entirety of the Sahara doesn’t need to be covered, just the hottest areas where no life can survive. If the gathered solar energy can converted efficiently, there are a lot of places on the continent that could use the energy to improve the lifestyle of the people living there.

>covers entire Sahara with solar panels >Refuses to elaborate >Leaves

I like how he says "now you're probably wondering how solar panels work," as if he's going to explain it, then advertises his sponsor and leaves you in the dark

You forgot about power transmission losses. A 360kV power line will lose about 15% of power per 1,000km. So to send electricity from Sahara to the US, Japan, or Australia you'd lose 85% of the power. With such huge distances you'd also need many transformers on the way, which waste even more power. So you'd be lucky if the US would receive 5% of the initially generated power. These losses are another problem for putting solar panels on deserts. Because they're usually far away from big cities which require the most electricity.

All the people who are pouring in the problem statements are actually contributing in making this project a success. Great job guys post more negatives which can take place in this project so a better and robust Risk management plan can be created to make it a success.👍👍🎉

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I can see a solar punk story called “The Glass Continent” where several cities are made across the Sahara and everyone is insulated in glass domes with unlimited air conditioning. Utopia has arrived!

Wendover Productions covered this topic and brought up the good point that there are very few routes to get the electricity from the Sahara to Europe and Asia. Upgrading the existing infrastructure would be quite expensive as well.

Video was super entertaining & provided some solid information. The only thing I wish was mentioned was the cost the world is paying for its energy yearly. That would provide a great comparison point to see if plan is truly cost effective