The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy project in the Nevada desert halfway between Las Vegas and Reno in the US, is the first global solar power plant on an industrial scale has been built with technology fully integrated energy storage.
Uses solar energy and does not require fossil fuel supplies electricity on demand, at any time of day or night, very similar to a nuclear power, natural gas, oil or coal, except so that no generates carbon emissions or hazardous waste and uses little water.
It is the first installation of public service in the world that offers advanced capabilities of energy storage, using a tower concentrating solar molten salt, with a height of 195 meters and surrounded by more than 10,000 mirrors (heliostats of 120 m2) that concentrate sunlight.
Last February, SolarReserve connected to the grid Crescent Dunes solar thermal plant built by ACS Cobra.
The Crescent Dunes, has managed to provide cheaply, and on a commercial scale, electricity from non-fossil fuel, even when there is no wind or sun does not shine. The facility is touted as the first solar power plant that can store more than 10 hours of electricity, which is 1,100 megawatt hours, enough to power 75,000 homes.
The trick is that all those mirrors heat a huge tank of sodium nitrate and potassium (cold salt tank) are pumped to the top of the tower (almost 200 meters high). There, the molten salt can reach temperatures of 565 degrees Celsius. When electricity is needed, the hot salt is used to heat water and produce steam at high pressure and temperature, which means turbines generate electricity. The rest of the time, the molten salt can be stored in another tank on the floor isolated.
bcb has participated in this project, conducting an audit of the state of the construction of the solar field, checking the quality of the calibration of heliostats and its solar tracking, a study of communications and system of infrared thermography for contactless temperature measurements in the receiver.