Can Solar Power Save the Day?
Phoenix is trying to eliminate the need for Middle Eastern oil by becoming a huge “Persian Gulf”-type center, producing solar power for export to the rest of the US?and maybe the world. Ironically, oil-rich Saudi Arabia is planning to do the same thing.
The Spanish company Abengoa Solar will turn 3 square miles of desert near Phoenix into one of the largest solar power plants in the world, that can supply power to 70,000 homes. They already have similar plants in Spain, Africa and other parts of the US. They plan to be up and running by 2011.
CNN quotes Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as saying, “There is no reason that Arizona should not be the Persian Gulf of solar energy.”
read more