Anyone who has ever hot-footed it barefoot across the beach on a sunny day walks away with a greater understanding of just how much heat sand can retain. That ability is expected to play a vital role in the future, as technology involving heated sand becomes part of the answer … [continued]
Having crossed some technical hurdles, low cost sodium batteries are hurtling towards the market for grid energy storage, EVs, and more.
Researchers have developed new materials to use in ultra high temperature concentrating solar power systems. High temperatures mean more electricity from the same amount of sunlight, making CSP price competitive with batteries for making electricity from sunlight.
It basically runs on salt but nevertheless Crescent Dunes, the new 110 megawatt solar power and energy storage facility near Tonopah, Nevada, is billed as the “most advanced solar plant in the world” on top of laying claim to being the largest facility of its kind in the world. Now … [continued]
One of the world’s largest solar power plants is taking shape in Arizona, including a built-in solar energy storage feature that enables it to keep humming along after dark. The plant, called Solana, has just received an infusion of $300 million from the Liberty Interactive Corporation as it completes its … [continued]
Molten salt sandwiched between two layers of liquid metal constitutes the inside of a new battery developed by Ambri, a company founded in Cambridge, and the evolving creation of MIT Professor Don Sadoway. The company and the battery is now backed by Bill Gates, who met Sadoway after he took an online class of his at … [continued]
Last week I had the chance to talk on Skype with Kevin Smith, the CEO of SolarReserve, which is building the world’s largest concentrating solar power plant in Tonopah, Nevada. It is the same technology as one that came on line in Spain last year that can ship power 15 … [continued]
Even though researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) might have solved some of the technological issues associated with molten salt storage, solar entities operating in the Mojave Desert now seem more willing to use PV panels to deliver affordable solar-powered electricity.
Construction of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants will drive global demand for molten salt thermal energy storage systems out to 2020, making the molten salt thermal energy storage (TES) market the largest of three high-temperature energy storage (HTS) technologies.
The Mohave Sun Power company is planning a project in Mohave County that could begin construction in the fourth quarter of 2010. It will use 4,000 acres of land and employ concentrating solar power. Molten salt will be the storage medium.
