1st Asia-Arab Sustainable Energy Forum (AASEF) Closes in Nagoya

Wednesday, 14 September 2011, 12:00 HKT/SGT

Nagoya, Japan, Sept 14, 2011 - (ACN Newswire) - The Asia-Arab Sustainable Energy Forum, which took place in Nagoya on August 23 -25 with 120 people from 10 countries, along with research groups from Chubu University, the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, convened to discuss various aspects of sustainability in the energy supply and the Sahara Solar Breeder (SSB) Project, whose aim is to supply the world with electricity generated from solar power in the Sahara Desert.

An important part of the Forum came from the Algerian team (from USTO, Saida and Adrar), which shared its experiences to date. The Algerians have been testing their capacity to operate locally in terms of attitude, knowledge, professional skill and institutional skill. The Algerian presence, with their interactive methodology and their participation in the plenary and SSB sessions, allowed the team to pursue a diverse dialog in regard to their research as well as their respective experiences within the SSB project.

The event sought to identify the most important challenges facing the research and economic sectors, and put forward new strategies that will identify the required skills to transform the research prospects based on the analyses and prospects of elementary processes and system design.

The concluding statements:

- Basic technologies for the direct reduction of SiO2 purified from desert sands into solar Si have been designed and have reached an experimental verification stage.

- We can expect dramatic cost reductions in the fabrication of Si solar cells with this new Si technology, making photovoltaic (PV) power generation in the desert promising.

- Photovoltaic power generation from the desert should benefit local communities and be extended to the world.

- Thanks to the establishment of a basic understanding on high Tc superconductors and the advent of low cost superconducting tapes, development of various applications such as superconducting dc transmission and distribution systems is becoming reality.

- Solar Breeder (SSB) technology, which combines desert power generation and global dc superconducting transmission and distribution, is vitally important to a sustainable energy future.

The 2nd and 3rd Asia-Arab Sustainable Energy Forums will be held in Algeria next year and Hirosaski, Japan in 2013.

The SSB Project, which began in 2008, proposes that silicon be extracted from desert sand, and used to manufacture a large number of solar cells at low cost. Energy from the strong sunlight in the desert will be converted into electricity, and supplied to cities in North Africa and Europe with low loss by using high-temperature superconductors.

In superconductivity, when a material is cooled below a certain temperature, its electrical resistance becomes zero. This enables power to be transmitted at least ten times more efficiently than with conventional high-voltage power lines. Last year, Chubu University performed an experiment, transmitting a DC current for 200 m through low-resistance cables using superconducting materials. This experiment was a world-first success.

Solar cells are currently topical as an inexhaustible energy source that does not use fossil fuel, but as their manufacturing cost is high, they have not yet become widespread. Therefore, research on new technology is being pursued urgently. In the SSB Project, solar cell plants will be built near the Sahara Desert and other deserts worldwide, prior to supplying electricity.

AASEF delegate Professor Sataro Yamaguchi of Chubu University said, "Superconducting technology is evolving, and is now close to being practical. Japan, which has the most advanced superconducting technology, should proceed with co-development proactively. Ultra-long power transmission lines can help any elctric generating source as they can connect the night- and day-time regions of our globe. The SSB Project will make that technically possible in about five years."

SSB Project Co-founder Professor Hideomi Koinuma of the University of Tokyo said, "The SSB Project is at the basic research stage, but it could become a new model for energy supply to replace fossil fuels. Although there are some economic issues, we would like to develop the Project by 2030."

About the Sahara Solar Breeder Project

The University of Sciences and Technology of Oran (USTO), Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology (JST) are developing a long-term vision and strategy to boost the ideas for the realization and development of the Sahara Solar Breeder (SSB) project (proposed at the G8+5 Academies meeting in Rome, 2009). SSB advocates the view of undertaking collaborative basic, applied and development research, as well as industrial production and technical, commercial and financial support services to implement photovoltaic solar energy systems.

The development and realisation of the SSB project, in the Algerian Sahara (covering a total area of 2,048,297 km2, approximately 86% of the total area of the country) will tackle the key challenges and issues related to the field of PV, putting forward the material R/D perspective and promoting innovative processes for solar silicon with a focus on the utilisation of Sahara sands. Three Ss should be the national energy policy drivers of Algeria namely: Solar, Sand and Space.

On August 4, 2010, USTO and JICA formed a joint group and signed a series of Memorandums of Understanding and bilateral agreements to announce the creation of a Sahara Solar Energy Research Center (SSERC), at the University of Science and Technology of Oran (USTO), to pursue the realisation and development of a PV plant at the chosen experimental site at the University of Saida in the south west of Algeria, also known as the gate of the Algerian Sahara.

The most important objectives of SSB's energy policy include five basic strategies:

-- Basic, applied, practical research and development, in Japan, North Africa, the Middle East, Africa, and other regions of the world;
-- Industrial production of silicon from sand;
-- Industrial production of cells, modules, panels, and other PV devices,
-- Building, operating, networking and monitoring Very Large Scale Photovoltaic Power Stations (VLS-PVPS);
-- Environment monitoring and gradual implementation of SSB.

The group will encourage oil-producing countries to provide funding, in anticipation of oil resource depletion.

Sahara Solar Breeder Foundation Website: http://www.ssb-foundation.com

Reference (Video): http://www.youtube.com/diginfonews#p/search/0/UdO6T1TIDzQ

Contact:

SSB Project
Yojiro Kitamura
Industry-government-academia Alliance Advisor and Global Cooperation Coordinator
contact@ssb-foundation.com

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