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Nevada, Sicily to find staying power in molten salt
The state of Nevada and Sicily, Italy, will each soon be using solar thermal plants that operate with molten salt to store and release solar energy.
Nevada got approval Thursday from the state's Public Utilities Commission for the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a 100-megawatt thermal solar plant estimated to generate 480,000 megawatt hours of electricity annually once completed.
Both plants will use giant heliostats that reflect sunlight onto pipes containing a molten salt fluid consisting of sodium nitrates and potassium. The heat absorbed by the liquefied salt is used to make high-pressure steam that directly powers a … Read more
