electricity. The mirrors are manufactured by Flabeg AG in Germany. In contrast to the power tower concentrator concept that California's original Solar One project uses. The specially coated tubes, made of glass and steel, were designed and produced by Solel Solar Systems as well as by Schott Glass in Germany. Motion control was supplied by Parker Hannifin, from components by Ansco Machine Company. Solar thermal power plants designed for solar-only generation are well matched to summer noon peak loads in areas with significant cooling demands, such as the southwestern United States. Using thermal energy storage systems, solar thermal operating periods can be extended to meet base load needs. Given Nevada's land and sun resources the state has the theoretical ability to have more than 600 GW of electrical generation capacity using solar thermal concentrators like those used by Nevada Solar One. It has been proposed that massive expansion of solar plants such as Nevada Solar One has the potential to provide sufficient electricity to power the entire United States. Parabolic concentrator facilities have been successfully operating in California's Mojave Desert commercially since 1984 with a combined generating capacity of 354MW from the Solar Energy Generating Systems. About 30 parabolic trough power plants are operating in Spain (see Solar power in Spain) and more are in construction or proposed, and two 110 MW plants in Israel. Production Nevada Solar One's production is as follows (values in GW·h). Fossil backup, night time preservation, and morning pre-heating, is provided by natural gas and provides up to 2% of total output. See also Copper Mountain Solar Facility Dish Stirling List of solar thermal power stations Renewable energy in the United States Renewable portfolio standard Solar power in Nevada Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert Solar power tower Solar thermal energy References PowerMag: Nevada Solar One, Boulder City, Nevada (12/15/2007) External links Acciona Energy North America's official site Largest solar power plant in a generation to be built in Nevada Solar Steam at Nevada Solar One Solar power in the Mojave Desert Buildings and structures in Boulder City, Nevada Solar power stations in Nevada Solar thermal energy Energy infrastructure completed in 2007