Spain can for sure set an example as the use of solar energy is concerned. The largest solar plants in the world are near the city of Seville of which the largest called PS20 is still in the process to be built by the Solucar company, while the smaller called PS10 is already providing sustainable energy to the traditional grid.
The future of the solar energy can be spectacular considering the two Spanish Solar Plants near Seville.
According to the daily Mail the both are operating using the burning sun from the area – Seville being placed in one of the hottest places in Europe.
The principle is quite basic and involves a beam of solar heat boiling the water through a quartz window generating enough heat to set in motion a series of turbines.
The entire production process works though a heliostat that captures the sun on two axes and focuses the radiations on a receptor placed on top of the 162 meters high tower.
Around 92% from the heat of the sun is transformed directly in electrical energy and the quantity produced by these installations can be so intense that the supporters of the solar energy sustain it can be used to separate hydrogen from water and set in motion ecological cars.
The only requirements are the natural light and a multitude of solar panels. PS10 has 624 solar panels of this type able to fuel, since 2005 when it was launched, around 11 megawatts of green energy, enough to power 5,500 homes.
PS20 has 1,255 solar panels and it will be able to produce 20 megawatts of clean sustainable energy in 2013 when it will be put into full operation status.
This quantity of energy is the equivalent of the one needed to fuel 10,000 private residences. According to a press release by Solucar company and cited by Environment News Service during the lifespan of this energy platform, the produced energy will reduce the world carbon emissions by 4 million tones.
The produced energy is three times more expensive than the one produced through usual methods but the technology is in constant development so the price will drop once with other plants launched into mass production all over the world among which the one from the Mojave Desert in California that is using 1.2 million solar panels. Other solar power plants of this kind will be built in Alger and Morocco.
