The solar power plant is made of 10,000 giant mirrors

Large mirrors concentrate the sunlight to melt nitrate salts, thereby producing enough electricity to serve an entire city.

According to Business Insider, each such solar panel has an area of ​​115 square meters, placed around a central tower. A total of 10,000 such panels, installed from the end of 2015 on an area of ​​1.2 million m ² , Crescent Dune, a centralized solar power plant (CSP) in the Nevada desert, America.

According to Kevin Smith, one of the project's founders, this type of sheet is not a traditional photovoltaic plate that is usually placed on rooftops or solar power operators around the world.

"The downside of photovoltaics is the discontinuity , " Smith said. "When the Sun goes down, it can't be used anymore."

Cresdent Dune power plant in Nevada desert.(Photo: Solar Reserve).

They are real mirrors, following the Sun's path of the day like Sunflowers. They will focus on reflecting sunlight exactly at the top of the tower. Here, energy will be stored in molten salt.

According to Smith, this is the "most advanced energy storage technology", rather than storing it in water, in batteries or in liquid-filled parabolic pans.

The central tower is home to about 25,000 tons of nitrate salts of sodium and potassium, heated to a temperature of 288 degrees C. At this temperature, salt exists in liquid form.

"We will heat salt to a temperature of 560 degrees Celsius. The salt will then flow down the tower and be kept in a large tank , " Smith said.

Molten salt keeps heat very well, and heat is converted into electricity through traditional steam turbines. This system can power the needs of 75,000 households in Nevada, 24 hours a day.

This system can power the needs of Nevada's 75,000 households.

Smith believes that CSP is not only a replacement for traditional photovoltaic panels but also a potential competitor to conventional fuels.

"It will replace fossil fuels, even nuclear fuel. You can't power an entire city with just photovoltaic and wind power, but maybe with CSP because of its storage capacity." .

Smith's Solar Reverse company developed cheaper, higher capacity CSP power plants and plans to build similar Crescent Dune power plants in South Africa, Chile and China.

Of course, this technology also has drawbacks: CSP can only work effectively in areas with strong and continuous sunlight intensity. In return, CSP has no pollutant waste, uses much less water than thermal or nuclear power plants and only occupies a much smaller area than coal-fired thermal power plants.