Solar panels. Photo: Roto Frank AG.

An Israeli company has constructed a gas turbine solar thermal power station in Spain, the Israel National News reported. The station was conducted over seven months and is intended to stay economically viable for 25 years.

Fifty-two tracking mirrors follow the sun and direct its rays towards a special solar receiver and a 100kWe gas turbine 35 meters above. The receiver then heats air to 1,000 degrees Celsius, converts the heat into energy, and sends it back into the turbine. The turbine then converts this into electric power.

Prior to this, the first such station was built in Kibbutz Samar, Israel, using technology first developed in Rehovot. The Spanish plant, constructed in the city of Almeria, releases 170 kW of heat as a byproduct that can be used to power a desalination plant. The station also requires less land and water resources, but can still general more usable power and heat than other solar energy systems.