This is a 110 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) project in Nevada, with a central tower, on 1,600 acres of land. The tower approach is more efficient and cheaper than the troughs that were common 20 years ago. They recently finished erecting the tower. See:
http://www.tonopahsolar.com/pdfs/FactSheet_CrescentDunes.pdf http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/06/u-s-solar-industry-posts-solid-q1-with-506-mw-installed 1.1 GW of CSP plants are now under construction. I think the nameplate versus actual ratio is better than wind, so this represents roughly half of an average nuclear plant (which is 0.9 GW). Solar availability and peak power are much better than solar in the southwest because the peak coincides with the highest demand, mainly for airconditioning. Demand at night is always much lower anyway. CSP does not drop when there is temporary cloud cover. It will be able to store the energy, even for use at night. That is a big advantage of CSP over PV solar. The working fluid is molten salt at 1050 deg F = 566 deg C. - Jed
