Like shining lowers popping up in deserts all around the globe, a solar power plant promises to supply cheap, clean electricity without the need for using the world’s supply of non-renewable resources. Most are being built in the sandy, sunny confines where the hours of sunshine far surpass the cloudy skies, using the power of the sun to produce electricity and store it for distribution without the pollution usually associated with electricity production.

One such solar power plant uses 90,000 photovoltaic cells to convert the energy from the sun into electricity. The solar power plant is situated on just under 17 acres of land and is capable of producing six megawatts of power, enough to power an average size city. Using thin film cells, which are cheaper and more efficient than crystalline cells, the plant offers a clean alternative than burning coal or natural gas.

As the price of oil influences the rise in electric costs and the threat of global warming is threatening the use of coal-fired electric generating plants, more companies are looking at initiatives to use renewable resources. Using the sun, wind and water to produce electricity and help maintain a healthy environment, building the solar power plant on the desert allows the use of land formerly believed to be unusable.

New Technology Lowering Solar Power Costs

As new solar cell designs are perfected and competition in the production of cells increases, the costs of the cells are coming down. The new thin film photovoltaic cells are considerably cheaper than the originally designed crystalline cells and are more efficient. Many of the earlier photovoltaic cells were not suitable for use in a solar power plant, as their efficiency was only about 15 percent. The newer cells being developed have an efficiency of about 40 percent.

Use of land in the desert is also positive for the environment as it protects wildlife in more habitable areas from being used to build a solar power plant. There are not many people or businesses building homes and wanting to live in the desert and the solar power plant can make use of this otherwise uninhabitable land.

Additionally, a solar power plant requires an area offing abundant sunshine and the deserts are an ideal spot. The deserts natural environment, which turns many away for its unforgiving sun and heat, makes a solar power plant more efficient for more days out of the year. They can also help provide employment opportunities in the technology field of solar power production.

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