Damned If They Do

By LISA O’CONNOR

A ROW is brewing over plans to build a gigantic “green” energy generation dam across the mouth of the Red Sea.

The scheme would literally part the Red Sea with a massive wall more than 150 metres high, one kilometre thick and 100 km long. It would stretch between Yemen in the North and either Eritrea or Djibouti in the South.

The dam would generate 50 gigawatts of so-called “heliohydroelectric” power.

The system relies on the sun evaporating water inside the dam and generates power when water flows over turbines to replace the liquid.

Critics have argued the scale of ecological damage the project could cause makes it inconceivable.

They have also claimed the Red Sea would shrink by two thirds in 300 years.

(c) 2007 Sunday Mirror; London. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.