Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

 
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project Drone Video

Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project Tonopah Drone

Drescent Dunes Solar Energy Project Nevada

A video drone shoot for the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy power plant project located outside of Tonapah, Nevada. Aerial photography and video by MILLER+MILLER Chicago Drone Videographer & Photographer company who travels to capture building photography Nationwide and around the globe.

The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a 110 megawatt solar thermal power project located outside of Tonopah, in the rural deserts of Nevada.  A concentrating solar power (CSP) plant with a central receiver tower and advanced molten salt energy storage technology developed by SolarReserve, Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC. The $1 billion project includes 10,347 heliostats that collect and focus the sun’s thermal energy to heat molten salt flowing through an approximately 640-foot tall solar power tower. The molten salt circulates from the tower to a storage tank, where it is then used to produce steam and generate electricity.  Excess thermal energy is stored in the molten salt and can be used to generate power for up to ten hours, including during the evening hours and when direct sunlight is not available. The storage technology also eliminates the need for any backup fossil fuels, such as natural gas. 

Under a power purchase agreement (PPA) between SolarReserve and Nevada Energy, all power generated by the Crescent Dunes project in the next 25 years will be sold to the Nevada Power Company for $0.135 per kilowatt-hour. In late September, 2011, Tonopah Solar Energy received a $737 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).  The capital funds included $170,000,000 in EB-5 investment through SolarReserve / ACS Cobra partner CMB Regional Centers.

Construction at the renewable energy generation station began in 2011 and ended in 2013, followed by several months of testing the plant systems. Melting about 70,000,000 pounds of salt takes took two months. Once melted, the salt stays melted for the life of the plant and gets cycled through the receiver for reheating. The SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Facility project entered commissioning phase in February 2014.  The Super Bright Glow of the solar power tower can sometimes be visible at more than a hundred miles away on highway US 95. The plant’s strategic location is in the desolate, geographical and sun-filled desert of central Nevada.

October 14, 2021 News Update: Solar plant near Tonopah producing power for NV Energy after stop during bankruptcy 

MILLER+MILLER Architectural Photography is available to photograph and shoot video using drones and photography equipment of any structure wether in Chicago or anywhere in the United States and beyond Globally. Our husband+wife operated photo team has photographed infrastructure, government facilities, commercial properties & much more Nationwide for over ten years.