The giant solar receiver installed on a wheat field here in California's agricultural heartland slowly rotates to track the sun and capture its energy. The 377-foot array, however, does not generate electricity but instead creates heat used to desalinate water.

It is part of a project developed by a San Francisco area start-up called WaterFX that is tapping an abundant, if contaminated, resource in this parched region: the billions of gallons of water that lie just below the surface.

The modular, solar-thermal water system can treat and desalinate any water source, including drainage water. The technology not only restores the dirty salty water to pure H20, it recovers all the minerals, salts, and fertilizers for reuse.

(READ the story from the New York Times or WATCH the video above)