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ROME - The world's first solar power plant, which will yoke the power of the sun with gas, will go on stream on the sunny east coast of Sicily by 2009, if a deal signed by the Italian Government this week goes according to plan.
The existing gas-fired power plant on the site will be augmented by the new project, Archimedes, which is intended to produce 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply 4500 families.
It will produce solar energy 24 hours a day, not just when the sun is shining. Its parabolic mirrors will focus the sun's rays on pipes through which run a saline liquid that has the ability to store heat up to 550C and to retain it for hours.
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