[touron]

New material could store sunlight energy during the day and release later

[Bedivere]

Interesting. Could potentially be more efficient than sand. Yep, plain old sand is being used in this way. Mirrors concentrate sunlight on a chamber full of sand, heating it to ~1000 degrees during the day then the sand is released from the chamber to cover a network of water pipes to provide steam energy at night. An intriguing use of a simple, abundant, and cheap material.