2 November 2009

Desert power – from spectacular idea to project planning company

The documentation has all been signed – DII GmbH has been founded. Some three months have passed since the Desertec Industrial Initiative was launched with the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding. In the meantime, the 13 founding shareholders have clarified the framework in which they will work together. DII was formally registered as a company on 30 October 2009. "Munich Re has succeeded in creating a viable basis for this visionary project and will now hand over the lead role to the new company", said Torsten Jeworrek, member of Munich Re’s Board of Management, who has vigorously driven the project forward in the course of many meetings and negotiations.

Paul J.M. van Son, who has many years’ management experience in the energy industry, has been appointed Managing Director of DII, which is based in Munich. The current group of 13 voting shareholders, comprising 12 companies including Munich Re and the Desertec Foundation, is expected to be extended over the next few months to include participants from a number of countries.

In recent months, Munich Re has been able to involve many networks in political and economic circles. And there have already been talks with Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP), an initiative launched in 2008 by the French presidency of the Council of the European Union within the framework of the "Union for the Mediterranean". The Mediterranean Solar Plan aims at the creation of a new balanced north-south relationship based on the promotion of sustainable energy projects. Both initiatives - the MSP as a political initiative and the DII as a private industry initiative – share similar goals and can therefore mutually support each other.

Picture source: Solar Millennium AG