Huge Solar Plants With Stirling Engines

Huge Solar Plants With Stirling Engines

Stirling Energy Systems is planning to build two separate solar farms, one with the capacity to generate 500 megawatts of electricity in the Mojave Desert near Victorville, California, for SoCal Edison, and a 300-megawatt plant in the Imperial Valley, near Calexico, California, for SDG&E. The utilities have signed 20-year deals to buy all the energy the farms can turn out, and have options to expand the plants if they are successful. Instead of using panels of photovoltaic cells, Stirling Energy Systems uses 40-foot-tall curved dishes that focus the sun's energy onto Stirling engines (see this previous post for more information on Stirling Engines). :: Wired