The Solar Trading International Group (STIG) was initiated David Weight of Davis Langdon who has arranged a series of monthly meetings at our Head office in London. David, already a member of Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation - UK (TREC-UK), set up the group as an alliance of leading members of TREC, along with engineers and consultants from various companies involved with energy generation.

STIG are concerned that the UK cannot meet its energy requirements and the 80% CO2 reduction target by 2050 without trading energy with other countries.  We advocate a complementary trading of energy sources with countries that have low energy needs, but potentially high renewable energy resources.  We would export some of our fickle renewable energy when this exceeds UK demand, and import energy from various sources when needed.  Whilst a wide mix of technologies and countries would be linked, we believe that the single most important technology in the long term is solar power from Southern Europe and North Africa, particularly Concentrated Solar Thermal Power which enables storage of power in the form of heat.

The group aims to:

• Educate decision makers and consultants, and
• Exploit commercial opportunities which may arise

We have had a series of experts from companies and government departments and think that we are making progress. Meanwhile, CSP installations are growing fast around the world, supported by organisations such as the World Development Bank.

Useful links:

DESERTEC-UK | www.trec-uk.org.uk 
What is Earth's solar potential? | Earth's Solar Potential