On the heels of the historic climate agreement reached by global leaders at COP21 in Paris, SolarReserve is answering the call to curb climate change with breakthrough solar energy storage technology utilizing American innovation that can produce solar generated electricity 24 hours a day.
The company’s Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is the first utility-scale solar power plant ever built in the world with fully integrated energy storage technology.
Utilizing the sun’s energy, and requiring no fossil fuels, the project delivers electricity on demand, much like a coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear power plant, except with zero emissions, no hazardous waste and low water use.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said: "Crescent Dunes shows what the Silver State can accomplish with clean energy when we are serious about competing for investment in the global growth industry of the 21st century."
"Nevada will benefit for decades as engineers and experts from around the world come to Tonopah to see what is possible when the public and private sectors come together to build the next generation of clean energy technology.
"Realizing Nevada’s clean energy future can only be guaranteed by a continued commitment to innovation and collaboration between all levels of government and the private sector.
"This project is an excellent example of that collaboration and Nevadans should be proud to have this engineering and clean energy marvel in their state."
The Crescent Dunes project, located near Tonopah, Nevada, generated its first test electricity in the fall of 2015 after completing synchronization with the grid.
Full load electricity generation at 110 megawatts of net electricity output has been achieved and the project has passed the necessary test to reach full commercial operation under its 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with NV Energy, Nevada’s largest electric utility.
Consistent with the rollout plan, the facility will ramp up to its full annual output over the coming year.
The validation of SolarReserve’s revolutionary solar energy storage technology is significant for the future of clean power generation on our planet, as this technology solves the intermittency issues experienced with other renewable energy sources, enabling the delivery of renewable baseload and dispatchable power that can compete head-to-head with traditional fossil-fired and nuclear electricity generation methods.
The technology uses tracking mirrors, called heliostats, to focus the sun’s energy onto a receiver to directly heat molten salt and then store it so electricity can be produced day and night.
