We are in Andalusia and it’s, no surprise, pretty hot and sunny. The Spaniards have long since figured out that it’s going to be good for them to take advantage of the sun and its brother, the wind. Our hotel in Granada had big solar thermal arrays on the roof. On the drive from Granada to Cordoba, we saw a couple of windfarms (ten turbines or so) dotting some mountain peaks. We’re heading over to Seville tomorrow and this is one of the solar capitals of the world right now. Abengoa is headquartered there and has several projects in Andalusia and elsewhere in Spain, as well as in the US, including the Solucar platform which will have 300 MW of power from several technologies: 50 MW from tower technology, 250 MW from troughs, 1.2 MW produced by photovoltaic technology, and 80 MW from Stirling technology. Exciting stuff!
Meanwhile, there’s a blockbuster article on solar this month in National Geographic Magazine. Go there to get the big, beautiful picture.