Solar energy
Shuman built the world's first solar thermal power station in Maadi, Egypt, between 1912 and 1913. Shuman's plant used parabolic troughs to power a 45-52 kilowatts (60-70 hp) engine that pumped more than 22,000 litres (4,800 imp gal; 5,800 US gal) of water per minute from the Nile River to adjacent cotton fields. Although the outbreak of World War I and the discovery of cheap oil in the 1930s discouraged the advancement of solar energy, Shuman's vision and basic design were resurrected in the 1970s with a new wave of interest in solar thermal energy. In 1916 Shuman was quoted in the media advocating solar energy's utilization, saying:
From what river did the engine pump water?
Nile River
Shuman's plant used parabolic troughs to power a 45-52 kilowatts (60-70 hp) engine that pumped more than 22,000 litres (4,800 imp gal; 5,800 US gal) of water per minute from the Nile River to adjacent cotton fields.
water