Abstract

Professor David Faiman was born and educated in the UK. He has a BSc in Physics from Queen Mary College, London, and a PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois, Urbana. He has had various post doctoral appointments at Oxford University, CERN (Geneva) and the Weizmann Institute (Israel), and joined Ben-Gurion University in 1976. He helped establish its Blaustein Institute for Desert Research at Sede Boger. There, David set up a solar energy research group that gradually grew into the Department of Solar Energy & Environmental Physics. In 1986 the government of Israel established the National Solar Energy Center at Sede Boqer, and in 1991 David was appointed its director. He presently heads both the Department and the Centre.

The talk will be about the projected magnitude of Europe’s electricity requirements and the size of a Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) network, located in the Sahara , necessary for meeting these needs. The costs involved that may reasonably be expected and sources of financing will be discussed. Brief attention will be given to technical issues, which are less complicated than might seem to be the case. By far the biggest problem is a multi-faceted social issue that will not be easy to overcome.