WHERE GARRY MADDOX ISN'T:

The sun's power is virtually infinite -- opportunities to collect and make use of it are not. As demand for renewable energy increases, so does the need for places to generate it.  

This need has set off a global scramble for real estate on which to build the green energy infrastructure the world desperately needs to avert a climate catastrophe. This is especially true for large solar arrays, which take up vast amounts of acreage. But over the last few years, a technological evolution has resulted in solar farms that take up no land at all.

The most recent major example went into operation in July: an undulating array of 12,000 solar panels 100 miles southwest of Lisbon bobbing atop the reservoir of Portugal's Alqueva dam.

With a span of four soccer fields and a peak capacity of five megawatts, the Alqueva Floating Solar Power Plant, built by Portugal's main public utility EDP, is the largest floating solar farm in Europe, generating enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 30 percent of the region's population. It's part of a rising tide of floating solar -- or "floatovoltaic" -- power plants that are proving the renewable revolution need not stop at land's end. 

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