This Solar Power Plant Can Run All Night

Crescent Dunes looks and sounds a bit like an invention lifted from a science fiction novel. Deep in the Nevada desert more than 10,000 mirrors--each the size of a highway billboard--neatly encircle a giant 640-foot tower. It looks like it might be used to communicate with aliens in deep space. But the engineers and financiers behind the facility, located in the desert about halfway between Las Vegas and Reno, say the power plant's promise is anything but fiction. The solar power facility built and operated by the company SolarReserve can power 75,000 homes.