The Energy Story - Chapter 15: Solar Energy - 0 views
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Solar energy can also be used to make electricity.
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solar power plants, like the one in the picture to the right in California's Mojave Desert, use a highly curved mirror called a parabolic trough to focus the sunlight on a pipe running down a central point above the curve of the mirror.
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California's Mojave desert, there are huge rows of solar mirrors arranged in what's called "solar thermal power plants"
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night and on cloudy days they burn natural gas to boil the water so they can continue to make electricity.
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form of solar power plants to make electricity is called a Central Tower Power Plant, like the one to the right - the Solar Two Project.
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light is reflected back to the top of the tower in the center of the circle where a fluid is turned very hot by the sun's rays.
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two surfaces are joined by a connector, like a wire, a current of electricity occurs between the negative and positive sides.
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individual solar cells are arranged together in a PV module and the modules are grouped together in an array.
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energy can be stored in a battery for an emergency roadside cellular telephone when no telephone wires are around.