Solar Reserve, a concentrated solar power company, uses heliostats to harness solar energy. This concept works like this: thousands of mirrors project and focus the sun's light into a giant tower, where it will heat salt until it melts. The resulted molten salt is later used to heat up water and the steam is used to spin a turbine. Because salt is a great insulator, it keeps the energy very well, so that it can be used to create power in at night time. The company is getting a $737 million in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy, will this work?
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SolarReserve is a privately-held, venture-backed renewable energy company based in Santa Monica, California. It develops utility-scale concentrating solar power plants with integrated molten salt thermal energy storage technology. It was initially founded in early 2008 by US Renewables Group in partnership with United Technologies Corporation (UTC).
Solar Reserve: Your Home Powered by Molten Salt