Solar energy in the dead of night? Could solar be the best?

Solar energy offers high capacity energy during peak consumption hours, which for smoldering hot regions, offers a unique opportunity to offset power shortages. But what happens to solar energy when the sun goes down? Already acknowledged as a weakness, rocket scientists think they have come up with the solution to the overcast and night sky: salt.

Rocket scientists from the company SolarReserve have filed an application for a solar energy farm that stores the sun's energy in heated molten salt. The heated salt, during the dark and cloudy hours, can hold up to 7 hours of the sun's energy potential and creates steam that generates an electrical turbine to keep the power grid going.

The project is huge: some 17,500 (24 ft by 28 ft) mirrors all surrounding a 538 foot tower that holds 4.4 million gallons of the liquid molten salt.  SolarReserve hopes to build the farm on private land, if the application is approved, and cash in from California utilities who would buy the electricity.

The project is certainly enjoying its rave reviews for the idea of generating additional alternative energy from the heated liquid salt, and it is SolarReserve's belief that they have the most efficient way of storing and using the sun's energy.

The question is whether or not the solar farm can operate efficiently when the sun isn't blistering down for 17 hours a day? And even more, can it maintain its own grid without the support of other plants?

Sure, the system makes sense on those smoldering hot days, when places like LA and Las Vegas have non-stop sunlight and are in the greatest need of electricity, but rainy shortened days present a challenge if the salt only holds 7 hours worth of the sun's energy.

Certainly, I am not downplaying the innovation of this design, as this may be the closest thing we have to constant solar energy, but compared to nuclear energy, it seems it is still is a leg down because it is hard for me to believe it can support a grid on its own.

Solar and wind, as alternative energy sources, create economical opportunities with low carbon emissions. The problem is that they need to be coupled with consistent energy sources to ever be considered reliable.

Progress is no doubt being made in solar energy, it may, however, be a few years out until we see the reliability it requires.