I think that molten salt is used in solar collectors but the economics of solar PV have now exceeded that of solar collectors.

April 10, 2026 - 09:37 UTC

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Right, but my dimly held recollection was that a salt battery could make a great energy store to power a turbine when PV was not available. I could have that wrong!
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Ideally you want something that melts at not too much over 100C and is cheap and plentiful. The plastic/rubber stuff from used tires would seem to fit that quite well.
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That said, salt has a lower melting point than sand and you can store a lot of energy in a phase change so if they could get the temperature up to 800C it would be more efficient than sand...
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