Australian gov’t research body claims major breakthrough in solar energy

CANBERRA, June 3 (Xinhua)– Australia’s peak scientific research body has claimed a major breakthrough in renewable energy that it claims has the potential to make solar cost-competitive with coal and gas as a source of power.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a federal government agency, on Tuesday announced it had used solar energy to generate hot and pressurized “supercritical” steam at the highest temperatures achieved anywhere in the world outside of fossil fuel sources.

Supercritical steam is used to drive the most advanced power stations in the world. Currently, only coal or gas is used to drive these stations, but the solar-generated supercritical steam produced by CSIRO might now offer a clean energy alternative at comparable prices.

Australian gov't research body claims major breakthrough in solar energy | GlobalPost.