All of the components need to make commercial-scale solar electric facilities that don't rundown at sundown have been well developed for many years. Having such a system would be like having your own oil well without the need of a refinery. It would have three main parts: solar energy collection system, heat storage system, and an electric power generating system.

   The production of electric power from heat is an old and mature technology. Edison used it when he first lit up New York City over 100 years ago. Such steam-powered systems are commercially available today.

   The solar energy collection systems using mirrors have been around since the Greeks. The story goes that Archimedes made concentrating reflectors that were supposedly used to set Roman ships on fire from a long distance away, which supposedly prompted the Romans to attack at night.

   The 3rd and key element needed to match the periodic nature of solar energy to the on-demand need for electricity can be discovered by observing Mt Mauna Kea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Inside the volcano the temperature is so hot that it melts rock! But do you know what's on top of Mauna Kea? Snow!

   Contrary to what many people believe, heat simply does not move very rapidly through dirt. If you measure the temperature only 20 feet down, even in northern desert climates where annual temperatures swing over 100 ºF, you will find almost no temperature variation, because it results from nothing more than an average of the heat that went in and that which came out. Thus, if you modify the annual heat-flow, you can adjust the temperature of the dirt over a very wide range. And the heat you store will tend to remain localized around the point of entry.

   Happily, to store heat for electric power generation we don't have to melt rock, neither do we need a volcano or even a mountain. We merely have to concentrate solar energy into a special well so as to raise the temperature of the dirt around it a few hundred degrees. Surrounding the well, out in the dirt, one places steam boiler tubes. Sunlight heats the dirt, providing heat for the generation of electricity whenever we need it. The dirt stores this heat on an annual basis making it available year-around for our use.

   In Yellowstone Park, Iceland, and a number of other places around the world, there are many natural hot springs that produce steam at a high enough temperature for the generation of electricity. These are currently being used for geothermal power generation. This teaches us that the amount of land needed for this artificially-produced geothermal energy is not very large. In fact, a pilot plant could probably be built on as little as 10 acres of ground.

   Since solar energy is readily available, Heat-Storing Solar-Electric Generators can be constructed in many convenient locations. Such systems are also ideal for distributed power generation. They can be large or relatively small.

   By generating the needed power using a large number of small systems at each village, rather than great big systems at central locations, the entire electric distribution grid becomes less vulnerable to wide-spread maintenance outages and typhoon or terrorist attack.

There are many other economic advantages.
1. The price of sunlight doesn't go up because of political instability.
2. Very low maintenance would be its only ongoing cost.
3. Much smaller investment than a conventional system.
4. As the first small units come on line, the savings can pay for the next ones.
5. Provides much-needed financial stability for its owner.
6. Turns free energy into money.

   Now that's exciting, isn't it!