What is the Crescent Dunes solar energy project?

The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant built near Tonopah in Nye County, Nevada, US. The 110MW plant is the first commercial-grade solar power plant in the US to be fully integrated with energy storage technology. It is also the world’s largest solar power facility with storage.

Where is the Crescent Dunes solar energy facility?

Subscribe here. The first thing you see of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Facility, and you can be miles away, is a light so bright you can’t look directly at it. This sits atop a 640-foot cement tower, rising from the flat, empty Nevada desert around the halfway point on the highway from Reno to Las Vegas.

Who built the Crescent Dunes solar power plant?

The project was executed by an American power production company SolarReserve through its affiliate company, Tonopah Solar Energy. In September 2011, Tonopah Solar Energy received a $737m loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to finance the construction of the Crescent Dunes solar power plant.

Did SolarReserve close the Crescent Dunes project?

This engineer, who has been employed at Crescent Dunes since SolarReserve began the project and requested anonymity, stated: 'So you were working at Crescent Dunes also back before it stopped generating power but did not close? Yes.'

How much electricity does Crescent Dunes provide?

In November 2015, Crescent Dunes successfully reached commercial operation and every year delivers 110 MW of electricity, plus 1.1 gigawatt-hours of storage under a 25-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy, the largest utility in Nevada.

Can solar power make Crescent Dunes a carbon-free energy source?

SolarReserve is trying to prove that the technology that drives Crescent Dunes can make solar power an affordable, carbon-free, day-and-night energy source, dispatched on the electric grid like any fossil fuel plant.