Typical solar power plants stop working when the sun sets, but a new
one in southern Spain, called Gemasolar, can stay awake all night.
"During the day we capture the energy of the sun and we store that
energy into a tank," said Santiago Arias, a mechanical engineer who
helped put Gemasolar into operation.
"Then, whenever we want, regardless if it is day or night, we convert that energy into electricity."
Located just outside the quaint village of Fuentes de Andalucía,
Gemasolar bills itself as the world's first commercial-scale
concentrated solar power plant (CSP) that uses molten salts receiver
technology.
2,650 large mirrors called heliostats direct the suns rays to a
receiver at the top of Gemasolar's 450-feet tower that shines like a
beacon during the day.
The stored energy can generate electricity for 15 hours without...
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
