Siemens is promising to drive the development of the solar energy market in the same way as it has applied its muscle in wind power, following the $418 million acquisition of Solel Solar Systems Ltd, a specialist in the manufacture of solar receivers. “We will become even greener,” said Peter Losche, Siemens’ CEO as he announced the deal.

Solel’s technology forms the basis of utility-scale solar thermal power stations, using massed ranks of parabolic troughs in which curved sun-tracking mirrors track the sun and concentrate it on the solar receiver. This concentrated solar radiation is used to heat a transfer medium, which then flows through a heat exchanger, generating steam to drive a turbine.

Solel Solel is currently developing the world’s largest solar thermal power plant, the Mojave Solar Park 1, in California’s Mojave Desert. The plant, covering nine square miles, will generate 1,388 gigawatts of electricity per annum at a price Solel says will compete with power from fossil fuel power stations.

Siemens is the leading supplier of steam turbines for solar thermal power plants. Now it has the opportunity to optimise the water/steam cycle and to further boost the efficiency of this type of power plant.

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