Solar Island in the UAE is not a solution to any problem

Fellow Tunisian blogger Subzero blue has published the story of another invention from the UAE. This time it is a floating solar island, conceptualised by the Swiss Firm CSEM and to be built with UAE money.

For once I do not see this as a useful and strategic environmental innovation. Building Islands is a strange trend in the Gulf countries, and it causes a drastic impact on the marine environment. Having the island as solar will not make the picture pretty.

According to the post by Subzero blue the island, which will basically float an a ring-shaped raft, was conceptualized a while ago by CSEM, but until now they haven't found any buyers. The prototype being commissioned by the UAE will first be tested in a nearby desert before the concept is moved onto the ocean.

It's one tenth the size of the original concept, only costing $5M and about 100 meters wide with a peak power generation of roughly 1 megawatt. The plant will produce energy by concentrating solar power onto pipes containing water. The water will boil, and be used to spin turbines. Once shipped off-shore, the islands could be used to convert seawater to hydrogen, allowing them to be autonomous and untethered to the shore. The hydrogen could then be picked up by barges, instead of having to transport the electricity to shore via a physical connection.

This is another human-induced change to the natural marine life and will not be used to solve any environmental problem. It will difinitly be a smashing engineering accomplishment, and another ground-breaker for the UAE but I do not see it as a solution for any environmental problem that we face. Money sould better be invested in developing sustainable technologies that can be economically feasible, socially acceptable and assissting in solving environmental problems.