To use these potentials we have to have high transport capacities.

For example the Net Transfer Capacities from Morocco to Spain with its 350 MW and the 1100 MW from Spain to France would not allow high power transfer.

• The Table shows cost calculations for the selected regions.
• The underlying assumptions for the transport system and the wind parks can be found in the lower table. (Costs of HVDC Components can be found at REFERENCES [10] in the text version.)
• As an example I want to focus on Southern Morocco.
• The mean potential production is 3400 FLH.
• The costs within the region is 3 €c/kWh.
• To transfer the power to Kassel the length of a HVDC line would be 4400km with 40km sea cable.
• The total costs in Kassel are calculated to be 4.5 €c/kWh.
• Thereof 0.5 €c/kWh are due to the losses of 10%.

But not only the low population density and the low costs of imported wind power are notable. The temporal behaviour of the power production changes with the size of the catchment area.

But not only the long term behaviour changes with the size and selection of the catchment area. (see the production of all regions engaged)

Comparing the duration curves of wind power production at different catchment areas we see that the maxima decline with the size.

• While within the European subregion Denmark and Germany sometimes the rated power is reached, the maximum in bigger regions declines significantly. In case of simultaneous use at all regions the maximum is about 65%.
• On the other hand the minimum slightly increases with the size of the catchment area to 4%. In an other Study, where the combination of offshore and northern African wind power was subject a minimum of 12% was found (see duration curve with offshore sites).

Now we have some Excess and some lack of power.

At the simultaneous use this lack declines to only 9%.

The investment in the backup system is about 7% of the investment in the wind turbines. This means that costs for the backup system would not at all be a dominant factor of the system‘s economy.

For the demand in EU & Norway we need to install 660 GW within all regions.

First there is the duration curve of the demand printed on the slide. It represents a total rated power of 465 GW and a demand of 1940 TWh. The maximum power demand is 295 GW the minimum about 140 GW.

The annual production of the storage hydropower within our supply area is 15% of it‘s demand (see Table:Storage Hydro Power UCTE & NORDEL). So it is slightly higher than the lack of energy from the considered wind power production and so more than enough to compensate the lack of energy.

There are many possibilities to get the necessary backup power. One was to enlarge the rated power at the reservoirs as it sometimes is done to provide peak load capacity. An other way is to use thermal units which also could be fired by Biomass.

Morocco and Germany:

• The population of the developing country is about 36% of the German population.
• In Morocco the electric consumption per capita is 7% of the consumption in Germany.
• The GDP is just 1.7% of ours (Germanys). It really is a poor country.
• In Germany we spend 2.2 % of our GDP on electricity. Which is more than the total Moroccan GDP.
• If the EU would decide to produce 10% of its electricity in Morocco (equivalent to 40% of Germanys consumption). The total investment in wind parks would on the one hand only be 3.3% of Germanys annual GDP or 1 ½ times our annual expenditures for electricity. On the other hand it would be 2 times the actual GDP of morocco.

So the decision for Europe would mean to get relatively cheap green electricity and for Morocco it could provide a development aid that lasts for some decades.

Summary and Conclusion

• Europe and its neighbourhood has good wind sites with huge potential for electricity production.
• The difference of the temporal behaviour in distant regions is very advantageous for an energy supply with high wind power penetration.
• In a system dominated by wind power, backup and storage will be necessary. To a certain extent both might be available. The costs for backup capacities will not dominate.
• For high wind power penetration as well as for transportation over far distances the European Grid is to weak but the costs of HVDC – lines will not be dominant.
• Wind energy could become a major source of power production.
• A win – win situation for all countries involved in a clean power system could be created. Especially the combination of climate protection and development aid offers interesting chances.

In general the fluctuations rapidly decline with the size of the catchment area (see also REFERENCES[8] in the text version). For the simultaneous use of all regions mentioned the relative standard deviations are for all averaging times close to 30% of those within the area DK-D. The production is much smoother and the need of fast reactions to changes as well as of storage systems is significantly lower.

• The bigger the area the lower the maximum of the simultaneous production, whereas the minimum production is slowly increasing with the area size.
• The frequency of occurrences with high simultaneous production significantly declines within bigger catchment areas (Compare the "frequency of occurrence over 60%" of the installed wind power capacity).
• The same is true for the frequency of occurrence with low simultaneous production. (Compare the "frequency of occurrence under 20%" of the installed wind power capacity.)
• The electrical energy produced in times with high or low system loads shows a corresponding behaviour.

So it can recapitulatory be said that the time performance of wind power with increasing size of the catchment area becomes more and more balanced and thus more favourable for the electricity supply.

At the 660 GW case more than the total lack of wind power production could be covered engaging the hydro power produced from existing storage hydro power plants within the area considered (see the blue field). But today's rated storage hydro power of 95 GW is not sufficient to compensate all occurrences of missing production (see the shaded area within the blue field) and thus there must be other power sources (pump storages, biomass fired plants ….).

Worth mentioning is the relatively high minimum power of 12% found for the combination of Northern African wind power from land sites with European offshore power production.