April 16 (Renewables Now) – The salt melting process for the Cerro Dominador concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Chile’s Atacama Desert has been completed, the project company announced yesterday on its corporate social media accounts.
The project used 46,000 tonnes of salts from the Atacama Desert, supplied by Chilean chemical company Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM).
The salts are a mix of potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate that SQM produces in northern Chile, the chemical company said separately.
The molten salts will be kept in the cold tank at a temperature of 290 degrees Celsius and in the hot salt tank at 560 degrees Celsius. The melting process was completed in 56 days, the Cerro Dominador company said.
The Cerro Dominador plant will combine 100-MW photovoltaic (PV) of capacity, already in operation, 110 MW of CSP with 17.5 hours of storage in molten salts.
Vía Renewablesnow
