GIANT mirrors will blanket thousands of hectares of desert in California as part of the two largest solar farms in the world.
The farms will use 11-metre-wide dishes coated with an array of glass mirrors. Made by Stirling Energy Systems (SES) in Phoenix, Arizona, each dish will focus the sun’s rays onto a 750-kilogram engine containing metal piston cylinders filled with hydrogen.
As the gas heats to 720 °C, it expands, driving the piston before flowing out as the piston drops down and cool gas flows in. This drives a generator, converting solar energy to electricity at around 30 per…
