Set of criteria for large solar plants released by DESERTEC

After several years of development, the DESERTEC Foundation  releases a set of criteria that ensure the social and environmental responsibility of large solar projects in desert regions. With this step, the foundation offers practical measures to achieve one of the cornerstones of the DESERTEC Concept: ensuring through that local people benefit from the development of concrete renewable energy projects.
 

These criteria provide governments and investors of public and private funds with tools and clear guidelines for the design of environmentally and socially responsible energy projects in desert regions by ensuring the participation of local people in projects’ planning process and their economic benefits. In the long-term, these criteria will also improve planning and investment security for investors. “Political participation and environmental responsibility play a clear and key role in the European transition to renewables. This must also be the standard approach for international projects and the global transition to renewable energy,” says Dr. Thiemo Gropp, Director of the DESERTEC Foundation.
 

At the core of these criteria are basic principles to be applied to large-scale sustainable energy projects. They consider economic viability and energy security alongside environmental impacts and social development. For example, by maximising the economic benefits for the local population, encouraging the participation of different interest groups in the development of renewable energy power plants and ensuring the transparency of the whole process.
 

The DESERTEC Foundation is releasing these criteria for the first time after having used them in 2012 and 2013 to evaluate the concentrating solar thermal power project, TuNur. These sustainability criteria will be further developed on the basis of experience gathered by developing these projects and through continuing dialogue with all key stakeholders.