 Research and development is focused on solar energy, and THEMIS is a research facility as well as a photovoltaic power facility and a solar thermal energy plant.The plant had a power output of 2 MW in 1983.It was based on an array of 201 mirrors which heated a cavity receiver (a cavity lined with coolant tubes) at the top of a 100 m tower where the coolant (molten salts) carried the thermal energy to a steam generator, itself powering an electric turbine.