15 July 2010
Spain has opened the world's largest solar power station making it the biggest solar generator in the world. Overtaking the United States Spain's solar power production is equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station.
Spain is a world leader in renewable energy making it the fourth largest manufacturer of solar power technology in the world. Spain has long been a major producer of hyrdo power only China and the United States have built more dams. The La Florida Solar power plant at Alvarado Badajoz in the West of the country collects solar energy by sunlight reflecting off a parabolic mirror onto a fluid -filled tube. The heated liquid is then used to heat steam to run the turbines. This mirror rotates during daylight sunshine hours and follows the sun's movement and is said to produce 50MW of power resulting in the countrys overall output of solar power to 432MW in relation to the United States output of 422MW.
The solar farm covers 550,000 metres which equates the size of around 77 football pitches. Protermosolar the association that represents the solar energy industry in Spain states that within a year another 600MW will have come on stream.In March the Spanish government announced its plans to increase the renewable share to 22.7% by 2020 which is slightly ahead of the EU's targets.
With an average of 340 days of sunshine a year solar power is clearly the way forward as Spain sets the standard for a place in the sun.
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