New Solar Thermal Rig Makes Clean Energy Easy as Boiling Water

• solar power
• energy
• California

Solar thermal energy (STE) generators share little technological DNA with rooftop photovoltaic panels, the hardware commonly associated with solar power. Ausra, of Palo Alto, Calif., has built a prototype (above) of a system that will become the largest STE facility in the United States.

The core of this solar thermal system is an array of flat mirrors that reflect sunlight to boil water in an elevated tube, producing steam that drives turbines to generate electricity. Other STE systems use curved panels that are more expensive to manufacture but catch more sunlight. Ausra’s flat mirrors rotate to track the sun, maximizing the heat transferred to the water-filled tube.

California utility Pacific Gas and Electric has agreed to buy power from a 177-megawatt plant that Ausra plans to open in San Luis Obispo in 2010.

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