Earlier this month, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit inaugurated the first solar thermal plant in the Kanchanaburi province of Thailand.
FORBES: Thailand Opens The First of Fifteen Solar Thermal Plants Using Solarlite Technology
In other green energy news, Nicaragua announced plans to produce 94 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2017 and South America's first solar thermal plant recently opened in Antofagasta, Chile.
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The biggest solar thermal plant ever built is in the Mojave Desert of California and generates 80 megawatts. (The biggest single photovoltaic installation produces 12 megawatts.) Solar thermal power prices range from 11 cents to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, making it more expensive than natural gas generation at its lowest price, around 7 cents, but less expensive during peak hours.
Several companies have pulled their IPOs over the past year, including solar thermal power plant builder BrightSource Energy.
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Google has invested directly in renewable energy projects, such as the 370-megawatt Ivanpah solar thermal power plant now under construction in California.
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The solar thermal power plant business is all about big: Square miles of mirrors in the desert that surround 600-foot-tall towers to generate massive megawatts of electricity for multibillion- dollar price tags.
Solar One, which went online in June, is the first solar thermal power plant built in 16 years and produces 64 megawatts of electricity during the peak midday hours, enough to power 14, 000 Nevada homes.
Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of the French nuclear giant Areva, hinted last week during a meeting in Forbes offices that Areva is developing a hybrid solar power plant concept that combines a solar thermal system with solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.
FORBES: Solar Thermal or Solar Photovoltaic? Areva Says 'Both!'
She declined to give details, but the plant is being developed by Areva Solar, the division made up largely of the solar thermal company Ausra that Areva bought in March.
FORBES: Solar Thermal or Solar Photovoltaic? Areva Says 'Both!'
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