There are four different ways to generate megawatts from the heat of the sun, but figuring out the best one remains an art. Tower, trough, dish or plate? No, those aren’t your in-flight dining options. These are the main contenders for the future of solar thermal. And the answer as to which one is best is somewhat complicated. Solar thermal technology is the other white meat, according to Fred Morse, president of Morse and Associates and a senior advisor to Spanish power giant Abengoa. It doesn’t get the same amount of attention that solar panels do, but thermal – particularly the large-scale solar thermal plants slated for North Africa or the Southwest in the U.S. – will likely become a large component of renewable portfolios in sunbelts (see No Tax Credit, No Solar Power). In Arizona alone, there are probably 13,000 square miles of relatively level (less than 1 percent slope), dry, sunny, empty, environmentally OK land that could accommodate thermal plants, says Morse, one of the world’s experts on the subject. If built out, those square miles could generate 1,742 gigawatts of power. The Southwest in total has 87,000 square miles of available land that […]