SINGAPORE — In the remote deserts of the United States, a clean energy boom is under way with potentially far-reaching implications for the way future electricity is generated in the sunbelts of Asia and other regions.
The U.S. government last month approved a permit for the world's biggest solar power project. It will use mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays to heat a fluid that creates steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.
While the technology has been widely used before, the scale of the complex near Blythe in Southern California, proposed by Solar Millennium AG of Germany, is attracting attention. It will have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW), enough to provide electricity for up to 750,000 homes.