Solar thermal starts to shine in world's deserts

People will soon cool their homes with power from the searing desert sun. Deserts are becoming hot spots for solar thermal power in which futuristic troughs concentrate the sun's rays and create steam to run power-producing turbines at power plants. It is a different technology than rooftop solar panels. As oil, natural gas and electricity costs soar, companies are racing to build commercial solar thermal plants that are the size of conventional power plants.

International Automated Systems signed an agreement to install a $150 million, 100-megawatt power plant in Nevada. Solargenix will break ground on a 64 MW, $100 million solar thermal plant called Nevada Solar One which will be the first U.S. commercial solar thermal plant, coming online in 2007. Burghard von Westerholt, head of thermal solar for private German specialty glass company SCHOTT, said SCHOTT will provide parts for 500 MW of solar thermal in Spain by 2010.

The best places for solar power are Australia, the United States, Spain, the Middle East and North Africa, which could export power from the sun to Europe on high-tech power lines, according to a report. Solar thermal at present costs about 12 to 15 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with natural gas power which costs 10 cents per KWH. But as production grows, solar companies expect costs to slip to 8 cents per KHW in five years. Fred Mayes, an alternative energy expert at the U.S. Energy Information Administration, said that solar thermal is more reliable than wind power during the day - the time of peak prices. And unlike biomass fuels, it emits no greenhouse gases.

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