A 110-megawatt solar thermal plant located near Tonopah, Nevada.
Reuben Wu © 2016

The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a 110-megawatt solar thermal plant located near Tonopah, Nevada. It also is a molten salt storage plant, capable of holding 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours of energy. 10,347 heliostats circle a 640-foot tower at the center and have a combined surface area of 1.28 million square feet. The $1 billion plant produces electricity at 13.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, higher than wind and solar farms to be sure. However, Tonopah provides steady baseload power, which in turn enables intermittent energy from renewable wind and solar to be seamlessly integrated into the grid.