I was fortunate enough to go to Morocco over Easter with a bunch of mates (Went in 4x4 so over the Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert)
One of the things we past by was a massive Solar project - currently 2km2 and going to expand to 15km2 apparently. Chinese funded.
It can be seen for miles - or at least the tower can.
I think this was on a James May programme some years ago. The mirrors focus the light on the tower and the heat is stored in molten salt if I remember correctly. Presumably then used to create steam and run a turbine…
dcsh I forget the process, but yes salt is melted to store the daytime excess to use at night.
Just found this: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/08/africa/ouarzazate-morocco-solar-plant/index.html
Found it from 9 minutes https://youtu.be/kTzsv_OwR2I
Sound like the one May visited was in Spain and heated the water directly.