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Solar thermal seeks US breakthrough
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pangea on 29/07/2010 16:46:00
 
While the new technology has been touted  as a solution toward moving the United
 States away from its dependence on fossil fuels, it has so far  stumbled
because of the high price tag for the massive plants.
Solar thermal companies like Brightsource  and eSolar, both of which count
search giant Google Inc among their  investors, and Spain's Abengoa Solar, have
technology that concentrates  the sun's rays to heat water into steam and drive
a generator.
Traditional PV modules made by companies  like First Solar and Suntech directly
convert sunlight into electricity,  and make up the largest chunk of the solar
market.
Backers of solar thermal have said it  would claim the lion's share of
large-scale projects in the United  States, but a sharp drop in PV panel prices
has drawn much of the  market's interest to that technology.
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