Concentrated Solar Plants (CSP) are popping up all over the planet. They are designed to follow and capture the suns rays and focus a large area of sunlight into a single beam onto a tube of water that is then superheated to make steam. Spain has over 50 earmarked for construction by 2015 and Tehran has just slated one to start in 09.

See wiki for further explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrating_solar_power