Thermosolar power plants are seen outside the city of Dunhuang, in northwest China. Also called “solar concentrators,” these plants use heliostat mirrors to focus the sun’s thermal energy on molten salt flowing through a central tower, which circulates into storage tanks and is used to produce steam and generate electricity. The larger circular array seen here is 1.7 miles wide (2.7 km), contains 12,000 mirrors and can displace 350,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. Also seen in the bottom-right are parabolic trough collectors, another method of solar thermal collection.
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