Intercontinental cross-linking of power supply - calculating an optimal power line corridor from North Africa to Central Europe

摘要

Background An oversupply of solar radiation in Northern Africa as well as high energy consumption in the economic centers of Central Europe give reason to an international cross-linking of regenerative power supply. A fundamental precondition for this purpose is the development of high-capacity power lines. By this means only, the energy can be economically transferred from the sites of its production to the far-off centers of energy consumption. To date, however, there is little knowledge about how to identify the ideal course of the power line corridor. This study therefore presents a method enabling spatial optimization of the power transfer between North Africa and Europe.