Ivanpah is a solar concentrator project, using fields of mirrors, known as heliostats, to concentrate sunlight onto a solar receiver on top of a tower. (This project when finished will include 173, 000 heliostats.) The concentrated sunlight is used to heat water, generating steam which is used to turn a traditional turbine and generator to produce electricity.

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The SEGS project uses curved mirrors to shine sunlight on pipes that pass in front of the mirrors.

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One is out of reach of the craft's heaters but direct sunlight could do the trick, said the project manager.

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Unlike the One Laptop Per Child Project, the Aakash does not feature any sunlight-readable displays, or any other cutting-edge, MIT-developed technology.

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First Solar used loan guarantees from the Department of Energy to construct another project in the Southern California desert, called Desert Sunlight, which it sold in September to NextEra Energy Resources LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc.

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Abengoa said the project will improve its current solar thermal technology, which uses mirrors to concentrate and direct the sunlight for producing steam.

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