BrightSource Energy Inc plans to open a power tower in Israel which will employ new solar power technology. The technology is being tested ahead of the construction of a series of new power plants, which begins in California next year.

Utility company PG&E Corporation will buy a significant amount of solar thermal power in the near future, and continue to do so in order to comply with new Californian environment laws. The state of California is imposing these new laws which mean that by 2010 a minimum of 20 per cent of its energy supplies must be sourced from renewable energy. 900 megawatts of power will be bought by the Californian utility company - experts say that this is enough to power over 600,000 homes.

The complex constructed in Israel's Negev Desert consists of 1200 mirrors and stands at an impressive 60 metres. BrightSource claim that the technology used in the tower is significantly more cost-efficient than regular solar power plants, but they did not reveal any figures to show exactly how much more significant it really is. The tower is a fiftieth of the size of the proposed Californian power plant, but power generated by the tower will not be for public use - it is merely testing the technology in order to perfect it by the time construction starts on the 100 megawatt power plants in California's Mojave Desert.

According to BrightSource, solar power competitors are still using technology in their plants that was being used by BrightSource 20 years ago. The old solar power plants use curved mirrors to reflect and intensify the sunlight. These mirrors - often as large as 100 metres in length - aim the intensified sunlight at large water tanks which then boil and release steam. This steam then drives the turbines which produces energy. The technology employed in the power tower in Israel works slightly differently than this. It uses a system of smaller, flat mirrors with enhanced electronic guidance systems to allow the tower to reflect the sun much more effectively.

The new technology may require a huge amount more electronic equipment as well as gears and controls, but the vast availability of cheap electronic components means that it can still be cost effective. The tower requires approximately a third of the amount of steel and cement used by regular solar power plants too. Not only is it cheaper to construct, but it is also considerably more efficient - the BrightSource mirrors reflect roughly 50 per cent of the sun's light, whereas the old mirror system manages only 35 to 40 per cent.

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