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The Nevada Solar One 64 MW projectThe Nevada Solar One 64 MW concentrated solar energy power plant. It operates in a similar manner to the SEGS
solar steam generator
project. It is already online and is due to become fully operational by 2011. It uses the same technology as previously constructed thermal solar plants constructed in the same state. However, the efficiency of this plant is 20% higher due to improvements in the design of the heat collecting and receiver tubes.
This power plant also used salt tanks to store heat to allow smooth energy production throughout the dark hours. These tanks contain salts that melt to liquid when heated by the energy supplied from the collectors. As the salts release energy after sunlight is no longer available, they solidify. Because they change from one state, or phase, to another they are called phase change salts. This project, like other solar collector plants, is massive in scale. It covers 400 acres of land and utilizes, among other materials, over 3000 tonnes of recycled aluminium for its reflectors. Check out this video of the project:
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