Solar farm delivers energy day and night
SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is the first utility-scale solar power plant ever built in the world with fully integrated energy storage technology. Utilizing the sun’s energy, and requiring no fossil fuels, the project delivers electricity on demand, much like a coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear power plant, except with zero emissions, no hazardous waste and low water use.
The Crescent Dunes project, located near Tonopah, Nevada, generated its first test electricity in the fall of 2015 after completing synchronization with the grid. Full load electricity generation at 110 megawatts of net electricity output has been achieved and the project has passed the necessary test to reach full commercial operation under its 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with NV Energy, Nevada’s largest electric utility. Consistent with the rollout plan, the facility will ramp up to its full annual output over the coming year.
The technology uses tracking mirrors, called heliostats, to focus the sun’s energy onto a receiver to directly heat molten salt and then store it so electricity can be produced day and night. The key intellectual property (IP) is comprised of SolarReserve’s molten salt technology, which includes the molten salt receiver designed and manufactured by SolarReserve, the heliostat collector field controls and tracking system, as well as the molten salt energy storage system.
The molten salt receiver, which is the heart of the system, is performing in excess of design expectations in terms of heat transfer efficiency.
Kevin Smith, SolarReserve’s CEO said “As renewable energy penetration grows, the need for cost-effective, utility-scale renewable generation with storage technology is becoming increasingly important for mitigating intermittency problems, delivering power into peak demand periods and supporting transmission system reliability. Our proven U.S.-developed energy storage technology deployed at the Crescent Dunes facility is already being used as a blueprint for projects in these emerging markets.”