Sicily is to host the world's first power plant that harnesses solar energy and uses it alongside natural gas as a source for generating electricity.
The 40-million-euro Archimedes project, due to be ready for action in 2009, involves the construction of a new thermodynamic solar plant at an existing power plant near the city of Siracusa.
An accord to begin installing the new technology at the Priolo Gargallo site was signed on Monday by Enel, Italy's biggest electricity company, and Enea, the government-funded agency specialising in alternative energies.
"We're moving from the laboratory phase to the industrial phase," said Enea President Luigi Paganetto, explaining that the solar 'module' would produce enough power to supply 4,500 families.
The extra power from the sun will mean savings in the amount of gas burnt at the plant and hence a 7,300-tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions every year.
"Italy has chosen to move towards solar energy," said Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, noting that the innovative plant would help drive Italian technology in the area forward.
"Enel has done a good thing. Profits are being reinvested in innovation so there will be more sun and less dark stuff like coal," he added.
Sicilian regional authorities guaranteed that the necessary bureaucratic procedures would be completed quickly.
The Priolo Gargallo plant will use high-performance technology able to produce electricity 24 hours a day. Special parabolic reflectors will concentrate the sun's rays onto tubes carrying a saline liquid.
This liquid will accumulate heat, up to a temperature of 550 degrees Celsius, and retain it during the night and on days when the sun is covered by clouds.
The heat taken from the sun will be used to generate high-pressure steam which can be directed into the huge turbines that produce the plant's electricity.
