Solar thermal power plant in the desert

Some energy companies are currently investing in a field that is so far less used, solar technology.

Turn solar energy into electricity by using solar panels

According to these companies, soon we can cool our homes with energy produced from the sun's rays in hot desert areas.

The deserts are becoming hotspots for generating electricity from solar heat, in which solar rays are concentrated to generate steam and run generator turbines at power plants. This is a different technique than that used in solar panels on the roofs.

Small factories for testing were built in the 1980s in California, the United States had trouble when the price of energy dropped. But now due to rising oil prices, natural gas and electricity, companies are racing to build solar thermal plants on par with the classical power plants.

According to Burghard von Westerholt, the director of solar thermal for the private company SCHOTT, Germany: " This technology is now restarting ."

Technology experts say the current limits and the future limitations that can be applied to greenhouse gas emissions have also helped develop new technologies.

In early February 2006, International Automated Systems Inc. Company In Utah, the US signed an agreement to install a $ 150 million, 100 megawatts power plant for solar energy company Solar Rennewable Energy in Nevadam, USA.

And Solargenix Company in Northern Carolia has just started construction of a 64 megawatts solar thermal plant, worth $ 100 million, called Nevada Solar One. The company said it would be the first solar thermal plant to operate in the United States. This factory will officially be put into operation in 2007.

Currently, the general types of solar power can only provide about 1% of the total electricity produced annually in the United States. One obstacle to this type of energy is price. Current solar thermal power costs 12-15 cents per kilowatt hour, while natural gas-fired electricity costs only about 10 US cents per kilowatt hour.

The SCHOTT company will also provide parts for at least one 50 megawatt solar thermal plant each year in the desert in the southwestern United States, until 2010, according to Westerholt.

He said the intense sun in this region and the growing population made it an ideal area. The SCHOTT company plans to establish a manufacturing center in the US and the center will provide about 100 jobs.

Solar heat is also being developed around the world. The best places for developed solar thermal plants are Australia, America, Spain, Middle East, and North Africa. These places can export energy from the sun to Europe and other countries on high-tech power lines.

Fred Mayes, an alternative energy expert at the US Energy Information Administration, says solar heat is still expensive compared to wind energy and biofuels produced. But solar heat has obvious advantages. Electricity produced from desert heat is more reliable than electricity produced from wind in the daytime, when prices rise to the highest. And unlike fuels produced from biological waste, the production of solar electricity does not emit greenhouse gases.

Mr. Rhone Resch, chairman of the Solar Technology Association, based in Washington DC, says the technique is ideal to power the Western region, where power supply is tight and prices are low. high.