At first, as he adjusted pumps and checked temperatures, Aaron Boucher looked like any technician in the control room of an electrical plant. Then he rushed to the window and scanned the sky, to check his fuel supply.
Mr. Boucher was battling clouds, timing the operations of his power plant to get the most out of patchy sunshine. It is a skill that may soon be in greater demand, for the world appears to be on the verge of a boom in a little-known but promising type of solar power.
It is not the kind that features shiny panels bolted to the roofs of houses. This type involves covering acres of desert with mirrors that focus intense sunlight on a fluid, heating it enough to make steam. The steam turns a turbine and generates electricity.
The technology is not new, but it is suddenly in high demand. As prices rise for fossil fuels and worries grow about their contribution to global warming, solar thermal plants are being viewed as a renewable power source with huge potential.
After a decade of no activity, two prototype solar thermal plants were recently opened in the United States, with a capacity that could power several big hotels, neon included, on the Las Vegas Strip, about 20 miles north of here. Another 10 power plants are in advanced planning in California, Arizona and Nevada.
On sunny afternoons, those 10 plants would produce as much electricity as three nuclear reactors, but they can be built in as little as two years, compared with a decade or longer for a nuclear plant. Some of the new plants will feature systems that allow them to store heat and generate electricity for hours after sunset.
At Nevada Solar One the other day, Mr. Boucher, 30, ran the computerized control room. He was trying to produce as much electricity as possible while saving heat to tide the plant over as clouds cast episodic shadows on the solar array. “I’ve been fighting it all day,” he said.
Imperceptibly, in the dusty wind
正确答案及解析
正确答案
解析
安让·布切尔看上去和电站控制室中其他任何一位技术人员一样，他首先调整了校泵并检查了温度，然后跑到窗户边望了望天空，以确定燃料的供给是否适合。
布切尔先生正和云层较量，调整电站的操作以便从四散的阳光中获得最大的能量。这种技术在不久可能就会倍受青睐，因为世界各地的人们对这种知之甚少但却很有前景的太阳能源正趋之若鹜。
这可不是那种装在屋顶带有闪闪发光镶板的太阳能设备，而是在数以英亩计的沙漠上铺设聚光镜，将阳光聚集到一种液体上，加热使其变成蒸汽，然后蒸汽带动涡轮机从而产生电能。
这不是一种新的技术，但却很受青睐。随着化石燃料价格的上涨及人们对其所对全球变暖带来的影响的担忧，太阳能热电站被认为是一种极具潜力的可再生能源的来源。
在沉寂十年之后，美国最近新建了两座太阳能热电站，另外10个类似的电站正在筹建之中，计划建于加州、亚利桑那州和内华达州。
在阳光明媚的下午，这10座电站所发的电量能达到3个核反应堆所发出的电量，但这些电站只需要2年久可以建成，而一个核电站需要10年甚至更长的时间才能建成。一些新建的电站带有新的系统，可以储存热能，从而保证电站在日落后能继续工作数小时。
这天，在内华达一号太阳能电站，30岁的布切尔先生在计算机控制的控制室中进行操作。他正尽量使电站能多发点，同时他也在存储热能以便当云层遮住聚光镜是能够使电站继续工作。他说：“我一整天都在和云层较量。”
在风沙四起的沙漠，182000面聚光镜悄无声息的随着天空的太阳从东边转向西边。
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