Solar thermal starts to shine in world’s deserts

People will soon cool their homes with power from the searing desert sun, according to companies investing in a little-used solar technology.

Deserts are becoming hot spots for solar thermal power in which futuristic troughs concentrate the sun’s rays and create steam to run power-producing turbines at power plants. It is a different technology than rooftop solar panels.

Tiny experimental plants built in the 1980s in California ran into problems when energy prices dropped.

But as oil, natural gas and electricity costs soar, companies are racing to build commercial solar thermal plants that are the size of conventional power plants.

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