ABSTRACT
The vision of the Desertec concept reads ambitious: the large-scale installation of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in the deserts of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, 1 it is hoped, will provide clean energy for Europe and the producing host countries. 2 Moreover, Desertec, it is believed, will provide solutions for the challenges of food and water scarcity, global climate change and overcrowding. This political vision, since 2009 represented by the Desertec label, has received broad political support from the EU. For example, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), which was founded in 2008, integrated the idea of a renewable energy partnership as one of its priority projects. And also European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger repeatedly promoted the concept (Oettinger 2010). 3
