There was a similar plant in the United States. Solar One generated up to 10 MW of power. Solar Two was a retrofit of Solar One that added the capability to store thermal energy for electricity production at night. The plant was shut down after it successfully demonstrated the technology. There was a plan to convert it to an astronomical observatory, but it has been hampered by funding problems.

Additional plants might be built in the U.S., but solar parabolic troughs have proven to be cheaper, with three plants in the Mojave Desert operating continuously since the 1980s, so that is the technology favored for new plants. Combined, the solar trough plants produce several hundred megawatts (MW). They use natural gas to produce electricity at night, but they could also be used just for peak production during the day. Also, a thermal energy storage system could probably be used, as well. Anyway, natural gas has to provide less than 25% of the electricity for the plants to be classified as renewable sources of electricity.

There is also a huge 500 MW solar parabolic dish plant planned for the Mojave. It will be an array of hundreds of individual dishes. The sunlight is concentrated on a Stirling engine, which generates electricity using a temperature difference.

THANKS

thanks