It might seem ironic that the oil-rich Middle East also holds nearly half of the world’s renewable energy potential – but yesterday the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, officially inaugurated Shams 1, the largest concentrated solar power plant (CSP) in the world. The plant was designed and developed by Shams Power Company, and it cost $600 million and took three years to build. It’s owned by Masdar, Abengoa Solar and Total.

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Post tags: abengia solar, abu dhabi, abu dhabi's renewable energy target, ceo of masdar, large-scale solar projects, Masdar, middle east renewable power potential, shams 1, Shams Power company, sheikh khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, sultan ahmed al jabber, total, world's largest concentrated solar power plant

Concentrating solar power companies Abengoa and BrightSource Energy will soon team up to build the world’s largest solar tower facility in Southern California. The new solar development will be located on federal land, and it’s being facilitated by the Bureau of Land Management. The 500-megawatt Palen Solar Electric Generating System will create 2,000 new construction jobs, and it will produce enough electricity to power 200,000 households. The project was unveiled just hours after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved 900 MW of solar development in California.

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Post tags: "solar energy", Abengoa, Brightsource Energy, Bureau of Land Management, California, concentrating solar power, Interior Department, ken salazar, renewable energy, Riverside County, Solar Power, solar power tower, solar technology, solar tower

South America’s first solar thermal plant has just opened in Antofagasta, Chile. Designed and constructed by Abengoa, the plant will harvest 10 megawatts of solar energy for the Minera El Tesoro mining company. The array is anticipated to subsidize 55% of the mining company’s needs, which are currently supplied by diesel fuel.

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Post tags: Abengoa, Antofagasta Chile, antofagasta Minerals, eco design, green design, Latin American solar plant, Minera El Tesoro, SOuth America Solar plant, sustainable design

Dr. Steven Chu, head of the US Department of Energy, gave an information-packed, 50-minute speech at the World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver on Wednesday. Speaking to a crowd of renewable energy leaders, Dr. Chu patted the industry on its head but didn’t have many bones to feed a hungry audience. The talk felt more like a college lecture than a political stump speech, with the energy secretary discussing the economics of renewable energy without addressing the cost of carbon.

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Post tags: DOE, energy policy, green energy policy, steven chu, WREF

The US Department of Energy just finalized a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to Abengoa Solar Inc.’s Solana project in Arizona which, when completed, will be the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant in the world. The plant will generate enough energy to power 70,000 homes and will create 1,600 to 1,700 new construction jobs. Once up and running, the Solana project will be responsible for removing 475,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the air per year.

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Post tags: "solar energy", 'arizona solar, abogena solar, american solar energy, Department of Energy, doe fund, doe grant, doe loan, fund, grant, largest solar plant, loan, solar energy in the us, solara energy, united states solar energy, world's largest solar plant

Here’s a case of strange bedfellows: the world’s first hybrid coal-solar power plant is now up and running outside Palisade, Colorado. A joint project between the utilities giant Xcel Energy and Abengoa Solar, the unit of Xcel’s Cameo plant is intended to show that solar power can reduce the environmental impact of coal-fired power plants.

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Post tags: abengoa solar, coal energy, hybrid power plants, parabolic trough solar collectors, Solar Power, xcel energy

President Obama recently announced that two of America’s most established solar companies are set to receive up to $2 billion in loan guarantees in order to ‘kick-start’ the US solar industry. The plan will provide Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar Manufacturing with the massive investment in order to fund their expansive projects, both of which could drastically change how solar energy is used in the US. Abengoa Solar, for example, has plans to construct the largest solar power plant in the world in Arizona, capable of powering 70,000 homes and drastically cutting CO2 emissions.

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Post tags: "clean energy", abengoa solar, abound solar, abound solar manufacturing, alternative energy, green design, obama solar energy, obama solar power, renewable energy, Solana, solana project, Solar Power, sustainable design, us solar, us solar investment

It seems everyone is rolling out with plans for the world’s largest this or that and the UAE is joining the fray with a massive concentrated solar energy project called Shams 1. Masdar is teaming up with French oil company Total and Spanish solar company Abengoa Solar to build a 100 MW solar plant outside of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Compared to the monster Desertec project in Europe and North Africa, Shams 1 is a drop in the bucket, but will be up and running long before Desertec secures financing.

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Post tags: "solar energy", abengoa solar, concentrating solar power, csp, eco design, green design, Masdar, renewable energy, shams 1, Solar Power, total, uae, united arab emirates, world's largest solar project

A giant step has been made in what will be the world’s largest renewable energy project. While previously just a grand vision for the production of clean energy in the Saharan desert, the project now has a core group of backers and a signed agreement between 12 companies wanting to move forward with the $555 billion renewable energy belt. The 12 collaborators signed articles of association last week for the DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII), which will work to bring more companies and groups on board as well as focus on regulations and conditions to get the project successfully completed and generating pure power from the sun.

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Post tags: Africa, Desertec, Europe, renewable energy, renewable energy belt, renewable energy project, Saharan, Saharan Desert, Saharan Solar Project

The lucky sunny state of Arizona is about to become home to the world’s largest Solar Plant! Thanks to a just-announced contract between Abengoa Solar and Arizona Public Service Company (APS), the enormous solar plant called Solana will power up to 70,000 homes, and will be the first example in the country of a major utility getting the majority of its energy from solar. The 1900 acre plant will be completed by 2011 – IF AND ONLY IF Congress renews the clean energy tax credit that’s set to expire at the end of 2008.

This could be a momentous environmental energy venture for the US, so now is the time to get political — we should not let this amazingly positive opportunity slip through the cracks!

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Post tags: 'arizona solar, abengoa solar, concentrating solar power, CSP technology, largest solar plant, municipal solar power, Phoenix solar power, Solana, solar power plant, world’s largest solar

Rising out of the Andalusian countryside like a gigantic obelisk, a 40 story concrete tower surrounded by fields of photovoltaic panels is is the first stage of Europe’s first commercial solar power station , which recently went into operation in a sunny region outside Seville, Spain. The eye-popping spectacle bears more than a passing resemblance to Sauron’s Mordor Lighthouse in Lord of the Rings – only shiny, happy and sunny, rather than dark and fiery. Dumb analogies aside, there’s no way that our meager words do justice to the sheer awesomeness of the project, so you’ll just have to check out the photos and video below.

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Post tags: Europe’s First, photovoltaics, Seveille Solar power tower, Sevilla PV, seville green electricity, solar powar in Spain, Solucar, spanish solar tower