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Comment by bigger_cheese | Hacker News Reader

I recall reading a while ago about using molten salt storage at large solar concentrators. Did this ever take off? The theory was you generate excess power during the day and you can use this excess to heat the salt solution which then release thermal energy during the night.

Does anyone know more about this? Is this able to meet baseload demand?

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This one in Nevada came online not too long ago and is quite large -- apparently has 10 hours of storage and according to Wikipedia it generated 9.1GWh in February 2016 alone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_Dunes_Solar_Energy_Pr...

Solana Generating Station, a 280MW solar concentrating plant, currently, uses molten salt, which allows for six hours of energy storage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_energy_storage#Molten_...

Thermodispatchable solar, even if the word does not exist, has been a recurring theme. But installations seem to be one-offs that are rarely followed by a direct successor project with the ever dropping price of photovoltaic.

In areas with cold weather, one of the most interesting (and underrated, due to only making fossil use more adaptable) developments is the installation of huge, insulated hot water tanks, to make the power generation and the great generation of combined cycle plants individually dispatchable.

Sorry for the late correction: in the last sentence I meant cogeneration plants, not combined cycle. (which would typically not be combined cycle, because the heat not captured for electricity is not wasted in cogeneration)

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