The US Department of Energy (DOE) has offered a conditional loan guarantee of $737m to support the development of the 110MW Crescent Dunes solar power project in Nevada.
The molten salt concentrating solar power tower generating facility, sponsored by solar thermal company SolarReserve, is located 14 miles northwest of Tonopah in Nye County on 2,250 acres of land leased from the Bureau of Land Management.
The facility will include a 640ft tall solar power structure and a molten salt-based collection and storage system which will capture and focus the sun’s thermal energy with as many as 17,500 heliostats.
The power project is expected to produce about 500,000MWh of electricity per year and avoid nearly 290,000 tons of carbon emmissions annually.
Nevada Power, a subsidiary of NV Energy, will purchase the electricity generated by the solar project under a long term power purchase agreement.