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Old 02-07-14, 08:02 PM   #1
ecomodded
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Default Las Vegas = solar electric power from molten salt

last year:
Las Vegas is such a city where night turns into day. The whole city is filled with colorful lights. To lit up the lights at night continuously, huge amount of electricity is spent. To keep the pressure on traditional electricity low, a developer of large-scale solar power projects named SolarReserve announced earlier this year that it has completed the central piece in its Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project that can produce 110 megawatts of energy, and distribute the power among 75,000 homes.Large Solar Tower To Power Las Vegas

recently:
a short video on the power plant

The Window: Generating Energy With Sunlight, Mirrors, and Molten Salt - Wired Science

Salt can now heat the food that *some* people like to put the salt on, who would of thought it, besides the chemists..


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Last edited by Daox; 02-08-14 at 07:50 AM..
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Old 02-08-14, 08:00 AM   #2
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I googled it to see what progress has been made. Quite a bite it seems. You never know with some of these projects. A lot seem to just get forgotten.

Crescent Dunes | SolarReserve
Photo & Video Library | SolarReserve

Quote:
Project Overview
-110 MW solar thermal power tower plant utilizing the advanced molten salt power tower technology with integrated storage.
-25-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy to sell 100 percent of the electricity generated by the power plant.
-When completed, the facility will supply approximately 500,000 megawatt hours annually of clean, renewable electricity, enough to power 75,000 homes during peak electricity periods.
-Closed financing in September 2011, including a $737 million loan from the Department of Energy and private financing from SolarReserve, ACS Cobra and Santander.
-Construction began in September 2011.
-Under the project’s unique development agreement with Nye County, SolarReserve has committed to filling 90 percent of the construction jobs with Nevada residents, utilizing both union and non-union subcontractors.
-The project is expected to be completed in 2014.
Here is an image from January 14, 2014. That is quite the field of mirrors / heliostats! Cool stuff, thanks for bringing it up ecomodded. I've always wondered why there aren't more of these type of plants, especially in the middle of nowhere like this seems to show.





They aren't small mirrors either!

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Old 02-08-14, 04:36 PM   #3
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I was unsure of the verity of the story myself..but it is scheduled to be up and running later this year. These Solar electric Power generators are a game changer and rule breaker all with a simple manipulation of the resources , they were using their thinking caps when they devised them.
I imagine these units will soon be profitable , then attractive to the Corporations and investors alike.
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Old 02-10-14, 07:31 AM   #4
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I can only imagine that coal is cheaper to build otherwise I think we would see tons of these things around. Has anyone seen/read a comparison on them? I know these type of solar plants have been around for a while now. I'm not sure why they aren't more prevalent.
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Old 04-21-14, 10:12 PM   #5
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Out of curiosity, does anyone know what type of salt is being used?
I wouldn't think it's sodium chloride.
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Old 04-22-14, 02:03 AM   #6
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Default Salt n pepper

Table salt has good properties for this , oddly enough.



What is Molten Salt?

Molten Salt is a rather dreadful name for an otherwise useful catagory of materials & processes. The term "Molten Salt" is self-descriptive; it is melted salt(s). Another common name is Fused Salt(s). The simplest example of a molten salt would be to take sodium chloride ("table salt") and heat it to a red heat (greater than 801° C, or 1474° F)1 where it would melt into a liquid. This liquid is stable, has a heat capacity similar to water (by volume) and flows much like water does. The major differences are the obvious higher temperatures attainable in the molten salt state and when the salt solidifies (freezes) it contracts versus expanding like water. Thus, molten salt freezing in a pipe would not burst the pipe as water would.

Salts are simple, usually ionic (that is the chemical bonds are a simple ionic type) and stable compounds. The most common example of which is "table salt", or sodium chloride (NaCl). Both sodium and chlorine are notoriously reactive; sodium is one of the most electropositive substances (wants to lose an electron) & chlorine one of the most electronegative (wants to take an electron). These two opposite substances readily join to form stable sodium chloride via a strong ionic bond. The melting point of sodium chloride is 801° C ( 1474° F )2, at which point it becomes a liquid, and thus a "molten salt".


Get a the complete long winded explanation below:
What is Molten Salt & Its Technology?


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