Editing Pieee (section)

====Molten salt power towers—New players in commercial energy storage====
*'''Authors:''' Rebecca Dunn (Australian National University, Australia), Matthew Wright (Beyond Zero Emissions, Australia), Patrick Hearps (University of Melbourne, Australia) 
*'''Contact email:''' rebecca.dunn@anu.edu.au
*'''Scope:''' Concentrating solar power (CSP) can both generate and store renewable energy all in the one plant. Curved mirrors concentrate the sun’s energy to be stored as heat, for example in a mixture of molten salt, or in a chemical reaction. When required, this stored energy can be used to produce steam and drive a turbine. In this way, variable renewable energy sources such as wind and photovoltaics can be dispatched to the grid first, and the “back-up” provided by concentrating solar plants with storage.  CSP trough plants with 7.5 hours of molten salt storage have been operating in Spain since 2008. But there is a new player in the CSP storage market—the solar power tower with molten salt storage. Towers can achieve higher temperatures than troughs—565<sup>o</sup>C as opposed to 380<sup>o</sup>C—and hence store more megawatt-hours of energy in the same amount of salt.  In March 2011, Torresol Energy of Spain will commission the 17 MWe Gemasolar power tower with 15h of molten salt storage. At the same time, US firm SolarReserve will be constructing a 50 MWe plant in Spain, and a 100 MWe plant in Nevada—both with around 15h of molten salt storage. Near-term advances include using oxygen blankets to allow higher storage temperatures up to 650<sup>o</sup>C, and the use of quartz fillers and thermocline tanks to reduce the quantity of salt required.