Breaking News from energyhelpline.com: the gas & electricity switching service that compares all energy suppliers: Potential breakthrough for green energy - 01/05/2009

Scientists have made an important breakthrough in the development of solar power technology that could help deliver cheap green energy to consumers in the future.

The Guardian reports that new solar thermal technology is being trialled in Spain that could overcome the challenge of storing the sun's heat for use at night or on a rainy day.

The Andasol power plant in Spain is using sodium and potassium nitrates to store some of the sun's heat for use during the night or when the sun is obscured by clouds.

It is hoped the technology could provide a major breakthrough in the potential for delivering green energy from the sun at all hours of day and night, as well as allowing countries that have less sunlight hours to take advantage of solar power.

"The turbine is running more hours every day because we have storage and we have the possibility to plan our electricity production," said Sven Moormann, a spokesman for Solar Millennium, the German company building Andasol.

Earlier this week, the Daily Telegraph reported that a number of developments in the solar power sector had made the technology cheaper and easier to deliver to consumers, making cheap energy from the sun an increasingly viable option.

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