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I wonder if having areas of the desert under permanent shade will influence the local ecology in some way. I suspect insects and such will start to gather there

by tyfon 7y ago

I wonder if having areas of the desert under permanent shade will influence the local ecology in some way. I suspect insects and such will start to gather there to get out of the sun to begin with at least. If there are any changes they are probably for the better though.

joshvm 7y ago
There is some recent research that shows you can do some nice companion farming with solar, in very arid places. The plants get enough light, but also get shade and have reduced irrigation requirements. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0364-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0364-5
- londons_explore 7y ago
  The logistics of planting and harvesting plants under solar panels sounds tricky though. If the panels are high enough up to be able to fit a tractor/harvester under them, the cost of foundations and pillars is going to get high, plus the extra complexity of 'working at height' to install and maintain them.
Merrill 7y ago
About 3 miles x 4 miles at 24.425359, 32.719888 . It is an insignificant percentage of the Egyptian desert about 30 miles north and a little west of the Aswan Dam. It's probably a good location to feed into the power grid that distributes the power generated by Aswan Dam.
- londons_explore 7y ago
  https://goo.gl/maps/pvmzNxrJxJoHEzXx5 https://goo.gl/maps/pvmzNxrJxJoHEzXx5 It's interesting that they seem to be using lots of different types and arrangements of panels? Are they using many suppliers to try to get competition? Or many different technologies to amortize tech risks?
bpodgursky 7y ago
The deep Sahara isn't really like the typical American Sonoran desert -- where there are cacti, hawks, scub-grass, etc. Large parts of the deep Sahara is just... sand, and a few rock outcroppings. I'm sure there's some tiny microbiome I'm missing, but it ties anywhere on earth (except maybe the deep Antarctic ice sheets) for "completely devoid of life." Any infrastructure requires some trade-off... but this really is a pretty good one.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

by tyfon 7y ago

joshvm 7y ago

There is some recent research that shows you can do some nice companion farming with solar, in very arid places. The plants get enough light, but also get shade and have reduced irrigation requirements. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0364-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0364-5

londons_explore 7y ago
The logistics of planting and harvesting plants under solar panels sounds tricky though. If the panels are high enough up to be able to fit a tractor/harvester under them, the cost of foundations and pillars is going to get high, plus the extra complexity of 'working at height' to install and maintain them.

Merrill 7y ago

About 3 miles x 4 miles at 24.425359, 32.719888 . It is an insignificant percentage of the Egyptian desert about 30 miles north and a little west of the Aswan Dam. It's probably a good location to feed into the power grid that distributes the power generated by Aswan Dam.

londons_explore 7y ago
https://goo.gl/maps/pvmzNxrJxJoHEzXx5 https://goo.gl/maps/pvmzNxrJxJoHEzXx5 It's interesting that they seem to be using lots of different types and arrangements of panels? Are they using many suppliers to try to get competition? Or many different technologies to amortize tech risks?

bpodgursky 7y ago

The deep Sahara isn't really like the typical American Sonoran desert -- where there are cacti, hawks, scub-grass, etc. Large parts of the deep Sahara is just... sand, and a few rock outcroppings. I'm sure there's some tiny microbiome I'm missing, but it ties anywhere on earth (except maybe the deep Antarctic ice sheets) for "completely devoid of life." Any infrastructure requires some trade-off... but this really is a pretty good one.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]