SolarReserve, a Santa Monica-based company, has announced progress on its latest solar / molten salt project – the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. This 110 MW solar thermal power plant is located near Tonopah, Nevada.
The beauty of utilizing salt with solar energy is that it increases the amount of time that solar energy can be stored – up to 10 hours each day. This will make it the longest full-load storage capacity for a solar plant.
The technology has already proven itself with SolarReserve’s 150 megawatt Rice Solar Energy Project in the Sonoran Desert. This new project will help keep the lights on throughout Las Vegas. Not bad. But let’s hope the environmental impact is worth the effort.