<P> Several parabolic trough power plants in Spain and solar power tower developer SolarReserve use this thermal energy storage concept . The Solana Generating Station in the U.S. has six hours of storage by molten salt . The María Elena plant is a 400 MW thermo - solar complex in the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta employing molten salt technology . </P> <P> Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam . PV converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect . </P> <P> Solar power is anticipated to become the world's largest source of electricity by 2050, with solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power contributing 16 and 11 percent to the global overall consumption, respectively . In 2016, after another year of rapid growth, solar generated 1.3% of global power . </P> <P> Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s . The 392 MW Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, in the Mojave Desert of California, is the largest solar power plant in the world . Other large concentrated solar power plants include the 150 MW Solnova Solar Power Station and the 100 MW Andasol solar power station, both in Spain . The 250 MW Agua Caliente Solar Project, in the United States, and the 221 MW Charanka Solar Park in India, are the world's largest photovoltaic plants . Solar projects exceeding 1 GW are being developed, but most of the deployed photovoltaics are in small rooftop arrays of less than 5 kW, which are connected to the grid using net metering and / or a feed - in tariff . </P>

Description of the importance of the energy source solar