As the Three Gorges Dam project plunged ahead in China yesterday, in Portugal a kinder, gentler form of power generation got underway. Construction began Tuesday on the world's largest solar power plant, which will power 8,000 homes when it goes online next winter. The power station consists of 52,000 photovoltaic panels, covering 150 acres of a sunny Portuguese hillside 125 miles south of Lisbon.

Portugal has supposedly committed nearly three billion dollars in private and public funding to finance its renewable energy investments, which also include wind and wave power. GE Energy Financial Services is funding the solar project, which will be built by PowerLight, an American solar company based in Berkeley.

In order to meet its emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol, Portugal is aiming to generate nearly 40 percent of its energy from renewables by next year.

Photo credit: "PowerLight": http://www.powerlight.com/