Medgrid

linking renewable energy projects like DESERTEC & Medgrid across North Africa, the Middle East and Europe and could serve as the backbone for the hypothetical supersmart grid. Background As per the statement made by Dr Gerhard Knies, German physicist and founder of the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) network of researchers - "The world’s deserts collect more energy from the sun in six hours than mankind consumes in an entire year". It illustrates the idea behind the ambitious project - Medgrid which will exploit solar energy from desert areas. The Sahara desert was chosen as an ideal location for solar farms The medgrid together with Desertec would serve as the backbone of the 'European Supergrid' and the benefits of investing in HVDC technology are being assessed to reach the final goal – the 'SuperSmart Grid (SSG)'. ==Consortium==

The consortium of twenty plus utilities, grid operators, equipment makers, financing institutions and investors include, • Abengoa SA (Spain) • Alstom SA (France) • Areva SA (France) • Atos Worldgrid (France) • cdc infrastructure (France) • EDF SA (France) • GDF Suez SA (France) • NEMO (Italy) • Nexans (France) • L'Office National de l'Électricité (ONE) (Morocco) • Pan Med Trading and Investment (Jordan) • Prysmian (Italy) • Red Electrica Corp. SA (Spain) • REN (Portugal) • RTE (France) • Siemens AG (Germany) • Soitec (France) • Taqa Arabia (Egypt) • Terna SA (Italy) • Tunur (United Kingdom) • Walid Elias Establishment (Syria) The consortium is led by André Merlin, CEO of Medgrid. ==See also==