In our recent interview with Solar Reserve CEO Kevin Smith, he filled us in on the company’s global ambitions, but was particularly proud of the Crescent Dunes concentrated solar power (CSP) project currently being constructed in the Nevada desert.

The project is unique because it’s being billed as the first CSP plant with integrated energy storage, which in this case will be accomplished using molten salt contained in giant “hot tanks.”

“This technology at this size would leap-frog us into [energy] storage leaders,” Smith told Breaking Energy.

For more on CSP technology, read here.

The California-based, PE-backed startup launches its flagship 110 MW CSP project next year. The technology uses a tower-based approach where thousands of mirrors focus sunlight onto a single point to create heat that generates steam used to spin an electricity-producing turbine. First power to the grid is expected mid-2014.

This two-part video series offers an up-close look at the technology and construction of the Crescent Dunes facility.