Solar power, the holy grail of renewable energy, while has always faced the problem of how to store the energy captured from the sun’s rays so that demand for electricity can be met at night or whenever the sun is not shining, found its only solution. The PS-10 solar tower plant at Sanlucar la Mayor, Seville, Spain was the first Europe’s solar project, which completed on April 29, 2008. The solar tower plant, the first commercial solar tower in the world was made by the Spanish company called Solucar (Abengoa), can provide electricity for up to 6,000 homes. Solucar (Abengoa) plan to build a total of 9 solar towers over the next 5 years which will raise the electricity capacity for an estimated 180,000 homes.

The technology is called concentrated solar thermal energy, which means it uses heat from the sun to run steam turbine generators. The best thing is, running it doesn’t generate any greenhouse gases. There’s not a cloud in the sky on the dusty plain outside Seville. But in the distance, there’s a glow from what looks like an upside-down funnel of light beams converging on a sleek, white tower. Those light beams come from giant mirrors on the ground reflecting the sun’s rays.