Actual real world solar thermal plants are a long way from 24&#x2F;7.  EX: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Solar_Energy_Generating_Systems" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Solar_Energy_Generating_System...</a>  Capacity factor	21%.  That&#x27;s 7 hours a day for 5 days a week.<p>A huge problem is any cloud cover prevents them from working, so unless your willing to burn something they become useless randomly.<p>PS: Molton salt sounds cool, but it&#x27;s horribly inefficient as you can only really use a small temperature range before it&#x27;s to cold so you need crazy amounts of the stuff and can&#x27;t ever let it cool.  <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Carnot_cycle#Efficiency_of_real_heat_engines" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Carnot_cycle#Efficiency_of_rea...</a>