Solar Total Energy Project

<p>The Solar Total Energy Project (STEP) was the world's first and largest solar thermal <a href="/facts/Cogeneration/nuSxEoqP">cogeneration</a> project having an industrial application. Built and operated during the 1980s in <a href="/facts/Coweta_County,_Georgia/FSCMJtUX">Coweta County, Georgia</a>, STEP used <a href="/facts/Solar_energy/YBSajyN4">solar energy</a> to provide electricity and process heat to a manufacturing facility.
</p><p>Developed as part of the National Solar Thermal Energy Program, which was instituted after the oil crises of the 1970s, STEP was jointly financed by the <a href="/facts/United_States_Department_of_Energy/PRp6Cz8g">United States Department of Energy</a> and <a href="/facts/Georgia_Power/oQrNxwPr">Georgia Power</a> to advance development of nonconventional <a href="/facts/Renewable_energy/6Bu6IrpF">renewable energy</a> technology. The objective was to design, construct, operate and evaluate a solar thermal energy system that could provide electrical power, process steam and absorption air conditioning to an adjacent knitwear factory.
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Solar Total Energy Project open-in-new

Solar Total Energy Project