Solar power has long been on the list of renewable resources; even those not a part of the environmental movement tend to know a thing or two about solar panels. But there is a little-known side of solar power that is currently on the uprise: solar thermal power.

Solar thermal power is created by laying out acres of mirrors across the desert that in turn focus intense sunlight onto a fluid, heating it and creating steam. The steam turns a turbine and generates electricity.

The New York Times reports on solar thermal plants in Turning Glare into Watts. Two prototype solar thermal plants were recently opened in the Nevada, with a capacity to produce enough power for several big hotels on the Las Vegas strip.

10 more plants are currently in the planning, and between them they could produce as much electricity as three nuclear reactors. Read more about solar thermal power in the New York Times article here.