What is the UFO-Looking Thing in the Desert North of Tonopah?

The long boring ride between Vegas and Reno was interrupted briefly for a glimpse of what looked like a UFO-spotting tower in the desert north of Tonopah. It was surrounded by stuff that is being used to contact ETs. What is it really?

Pretty imaginative description of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project.

Actually, it is almost extraterrestrial in its tech—“advanced molten salt-energy storage technology.” The whole installation is centered on a 65-story solar-power tower; more than 10,000 heliostats, mirrors that reflect sunlight in a fixed direction, focus the strong sunlight on the tower, a sort of silo for salt. The sunlight heats the molten salt, which circulates from the tower to a storage tank, where it’s used to produce steam and generate electricity.

Because the molten salt can store excess thermal energy and generate steam for up to 10 hours, no backup fossil fuels are necessary at night.

All the electricity from the 13 million square feet of heliostats is sold to Nevada Power.

Construction began on the $1 billion power plant in September 2011 and was completed in December 2013. Melting the 70 million pounds of salt required two months. Crescent Dunes went online in September 2015.

A leak in the molten salt tank caused it to be shut down in October 2016, but it was restarted nine months later and has operated smoothly since.

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Comments

Dave Jul-19-2018

Tourist Trap?

Is that molten salt process also used at Ivanpah? (A couple miles south of Primm on I-95.)

Does either facility offer tours?

Dave in Seattle. Jul-19-2018

Presents a danger to birds.

 Cool idea,but:
https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/02/19/largest-solar-thermal-plant-completed-ivanpah

Straski Jul-19-2018

Expensive

That liquid salt solar unit is pretty expensive power. I believe Nevada Power is paying 17 cents a KW hour for 25 years for that solar farm that heats molten salt during the day to generate power at night. Rooftop solar makes more sense.

Jul-19-2018

It makes sense

Solar installations are expensive initially, but the costs, amortized over the useful operating life of the plant, are extremely low per KwH. Solar is the obvious way to go, both large and small scale. We can't burn fossil fuels forever, and now solar is cheaper anyway (despite efforts by a certain moron). Nevada is ideal for solar plants: it's 95% empty, barren wasteland, and the sun shines most of the time. As for harm to wildlife---it's actually quite minimal. A bird would have to linger for half a minute or more in the rays from one mirror to be harmed by the heat.

Jackie Jul-19-2018

Also

There are molten salt reactors that can be fueled by nuclear power plant waste and can be made small enough to power electric vehicles fueled by safe radioactive material in the event of totally destructive damage.
I have proposed the idea of molten salt reactors being built on Yucca mountain powered by the nuclear waste Congress is trying to store there.  Molten salt reactors "eat" nuclear waste making it harmless and there are other, plentiful, safer radioactive materials that can fuel the reactors once the waste is consumed.

Jul-19-2018

minor points

Because some long drives in the West can be boring, it's a good idea to always bring along some music CD's to listen to. It's also a good idea to carry a decent amount of cash, because some rural eateries don't accept credit cards. P.S.: I hope you had your mid-trip meal at Mel's Diner in Beatty, because one source lists it as the best hole-in-the-wall diner in Nevada.

Question of the Day - 19 July 2018

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