A team of architects and environmental engineers has proposed covering swaths of the Sahara with vast "salt water greenhouses" powered by solar power arrays, in a plan they call the Sahara Forest Project. Charlie Paton, inventor of the salt water greenhouse, says the combined technologies could transform patches of the desert from arid wastelands into lush expanses that produce a bounty of fruits and vegetables for local people. The plan is no doubt ambitious and unproved at this scale, but Paton says he has built demonstration greenhouses on the Spanish island Tenerife, as well as in Abu Dhabi and Oman; he says there is further interest
in funding demonstration projects from across the Middle East, including UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. The cost is not as astronomical as one would think, and is estimated at approximately $118 million for a 20 hectare [50 acre] site of greenhouses and a 10MW concentrated solar power farm [Red Herring].
Paton is working with Exploration Architecture, a company that worked on the world's largest greenhouse in England's Eden Project.
The greenhouses work by using the solar farm to power seawater evaporators and then pump the damp, cool air through the greenhouse. This reduces the temperature by about 15C compared to that outside. At the other end of the greenhouse from the evaporators, the water vapour is condensed. Some of this fresh water is used to water the crops, while the rest can be used for the essential task of cleaning the solar mirrors. "So we've got conditions in the greenhouse of high humidity and lower temperature," said Paton. "The crops sitting in this slightly steamy, humid condition can grow fantastically well" [The Guardian].
The project would use a concentrated solar power (CSP) system, in which huge mirrors focus the sun's rays onto water heaters, which produces steam to power turbines. As the dreamers envision it, the Sahara Forest Project would be established near the north coast of Africa.
The scheme has been designed as a ‘hedge’ of greenhouses providing a windbreak and shelter for the outdoor planting. CSP arrays will be placed at intervals along the greenhouse 'hedge'. The greenhouses produce five time more fresh water than needed for the plants inside. This surplus will be used to irrigate the planted orchards and the Jatrophra [sic—the correct name is "Jatropha"] crop, which can be turned into bio-fuel for transportation and other needs [Treehugger].
Image: Exploration Architecture Related Post: A Solar Power Plant in the Sahara Could Power All of Europe
