Aim 600 mirrors at a single point and things heat up very quickly. Pour some water on the hot spot and now you've got enough steam to make 11 MW of electricity—even at night! A new thermal solar power plant in southern Spain, built by the Solucar company, is the first of its kind in all of Europe. While thermal power plants like these have been heating things up in Australia for a few years now, the new Spanish plant will eventually be able to provide electricity to a whopping 600,000 people who live in the nearby town of Seville. This 40-story boiler has some serious sol.
How does it work at night you ask? Well, since the plant produces such an enormous amount of steam when the sun is shining, it can store some of the excess water vapor in tanks to be used later. Once noche rolls around, the containers are uncorked and the turbines spin 'till dawn.
Expect this modernista marvel to get better with time—thousands of additional mirrors are slated to join in chorus with the hundreds already online today. Check out this video from BBC News for a look at the plant inside and out.
Via BBC News
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