Schism in the DESERTEC initiative

The DESERTEC Foundation announced the termination of its membership with Dii GmbH. This action has been agreed upon by all members of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Directors at an extraordinary board meeting which took place on 27th June 2013.
 

In 2009, Dii GmbH had been founded as a cooperation between many renowned firms and DESERTEC Foundation to create appropriate conditions for the realisation of DESERTEC in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
 

The non-governmental Foundation, which is the main idea- and name-giver for the DESERTEC concept, is taking this step as a result of many irresolvable disputes between the two entities in the area of future strategies, obligations and their communication and last but not least the managerial style of Dii’s top management. DESERTEC Foundation also wants to avoid being dragged into the maelstrom of negative publicity about the management crisis and disorientation of the industrial consortium. The dispute at the management level has already led to resentment among the partners of the DESERTEC Foundation and it negatively affects our reputation and trust. This is what the DESERTEC Foundation intends to avoid.
 

DESERTEC Foundation explicitly emphasises its understanding for the challenges the industrial consortium has to face. “It was always clear to us that our idea of producing electricity from the deserts on this earth was never an easy task and will always face extreme challenges. The employees of Dii have contributed enormously to the global transition towards renewable energy. However, after many months filled with a lot of discussions we had to conclude that the DESERTEC Foundation needs to preserve its independence. This is why Dii and DESERTEC Foundation will go separate ways which does not exclude future cooperation,” said Thiemo Gropp, Director of the DESERTEC Foundation.
 

DESERTEC Foundation is the sole owner of the brand name “DESERTEC” and therefore the guardian of the concept. The Foundation is a non-profit organisation and its main objective is to globally spread and implement the DESERTEC concept and its vision to produce renewable electricity from desert regions while taking socioeconomic aspects into consideration. DESERTEC is a major component of the global transition towards renewable energy.