Unearthing the Lost Legacy of the 'Sun Engine' from the 20th Century
Frank Shuman, an American inventor, built the world's first solar power station in 1913 in Egypt, which used reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto cast-iron boilers to create low-pressure steam to drive a specially designed engine. Shuman's invention was soon overshadowed by the discovery of cheap oil in the Middle East and the arrival of World War One. However, his far-sighted appreciation of how such "solar engines" could replace dirty fuel when built in great numbers has come to fruition, with Egypt opening the fourth-largest solar plant in the world, covering more than 37 sq km (14.4 sq miles).