SOLAR TOWERS - THE NEXT GENERATION

Solar power towers will be built in California next year to test the next generation of renewable energy technology that will lead the fight against damaging climate change.

While towers powered by the sun have been used for decades the new power towers - developed by BrightSource Energy - are surrounded by a system of small, flat mirrors, each with an enhanced guidance system to track and reflect the sun more effectively than the trough-like systems.

BrightSource Energy Inc confirmed with Daily Planet Media that the energy company would initially build 900 megawatts towers of solar thermal power with energy to supply 630,000 homes.

The announcement came as California prepares measures to enforce legislation that 20 percent of the state's electricity supplies come from renewable energy by 2010.

The BrightSource 60 meters high tower with 1,200 mirrors would sit on about 12,000 square meters of land. The first solar towers will have a capacity of generating 1.5 megawatts. A bigger 100-megawatt plant in California's Mojave Desert is scheduled for completion by 2011.

BrightSource sources said the towers systems were more cost-efficient than other solar power plants as they used mirrors that reflect about 50 percent of the sunlight, while standard systems reflect 35-40 percent. Consequently the temperature and pressure in the boiler is higher and energy is produced more effectively.