When complete, the project would be the largest solar power station in the world, with a generating capacity greater than the entire output of all other US solar power projects.

The project has been unveiled with the signing of a 20-year purchase agreement calling for the development of a 500MW solar project north-east of Los Angeles, with an option to expand its capacity to 850MW. A 1MW test project of 40 Stirling solar dishes would be built initially, with the final project consisting of 20,000 dishes built over a four year period.

Stirling dish technology converts solar energy to electricity by using a mirror array to focus the sun's rays on a patented "Stirling engine". The internal side of the receiver then heats hydrogen gas which expands, creating pressure that drives a piston and drive shaft similar to those found in internal combustion engines, without igniting the gas. The drive shaft turns a small electricity generator, with the entire energy conversion process taking place within a canister the size of an oil drum. The process requires no water and creates no harmful emissions.

"At a time of rising fossil-fuel costs and increased concern about greenhouse-gas emissions, the Stirling project would provide enough clean power to serve 278,000 homes for an entire year," said SCE chairman John Bryson.

"Edison is committed to facilitating development of new, environmentally sensitive, renewable energy technologies to meet the growing demand for electricity here and throughout the US."

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