110-megawatt "solar" power station to appear in California

The company Solar Reserve today announced the receipt of federal permission to create a thermal "solar" power station, which will work even when the sun goes beyond the horizon. The company is located in Santa Monica, California, USA, and the plant's capacity is estimated at 110 megawatts. The construction of the station should be completed by mid-2011.

The station was named Crescent Dunes, and the principle of its operation is quite simple - the mirrors direct the sun's rays to the tower, inside which is the salt (probably NaCl, no details are specified). When the beams heat the tower to the melting point of salt, the salt melts and flows into a special storage facility, from where it is pumped through the steam generating system. The steam in turn rotates the turbines, as a result of which electric power is generated.
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According to the developers, the storage is arranged in such a way that the melt maintains the temperature for eight hours after the sun sets over the horizon. There are no technical details of such a process, however, the construction, as we see, is very interesting. Due to the design features, the future power station is already recognized as “green”, that is, one that causes minimal damage to the environment.

It turns out that the station is not only “green”, but also economically very profitable, since the cycle of its work is daily, and the station does not stand idle without work. The energy produced by such a power station will be enough to supply 75,000 households with electrical energy. Very impressive, it should be noted. By the way, similar projects will be implemented also in Nevada and Arizona, where solar energy is in abundance.

Via CNET