Crescent Dunes Solar Power Plant is Changing the Industry, Here’s How.

F.E. Moran Special Hazard Systems is proud to be providing fire protection for Crescent Dunes, NV solar power plant. Crescent Dunes has a revolutionary technology that makes solar power more accessible to households.

During peak time, they provide energy to 75,000 homes with no fossil fuel.

How do they use 0 fossil fuels?

Salt.

This solar power plant uses concentrated solar power (CSP). A system of mirrors concentrates the solar energy. Crescent Dunes then uses salt to capture the energy and store it. The salt storage allows the energy captured from the sun to be used 24 hours a day.

Cold salt is stored near a central receiver tower that is located in the center of 10,347 tracking heliostats. The salt collects the heat, which can reach 1,000 degrees. Once the salt collects the heat, it is pumped to a hot salt tank. The hot salt tank acts like a battery, preserving the heat for 16 hours.

Molten salt is vastly better than batteries. Salt is less expensive than batteries. It lasts for 40+ years. Lastly, salt doesn’t degrade or need replaced.

The molten salt generates steam, which drives the turbine and creates electricity.

Using molten salt in solar power plants is getting cheaper and cheaper. In 2009 it cost almost $1 billion, and now the price to build a solar plant with this technology is half that. SolarReserve is building another plant in Chile, and it will be less than 5 cents/kWh, whereas Crescent Dunes was 13.5 cents/kWh in 2009.

Originally published at www.femoran.com.