Solar Towers - awesome renewable energy idea

[BCO]

http://www.gizmag.com/enviromission-solar-tower-arizona-clean-energy-renewable/19287/

11 year payback time, and it works in a wide range of weather conditions. A few of these in the Karoo would be nice.

 

[K3NS31]

Cool idea, bit of a misnomer though. The name implies solar panels / reflectors, whereas this is more of an air-current / heat exchange / heat pump type of system.
Interested to see how close they get to their theoretical energy output. Happy to see the Americans foot the bill for this to see if it's really viable, before we start paying for ones in the Karoo or wherever.

 

[K3NS31]

BTW, some good links after that article to other "solar tower" projects. Interesting...

Edit: Just read a few of those, damn, none of these huge solar projects produce much energy. I see we'll still be needing nuclear for a looong time.

 

[axelblue]

Mmm, 800m high, 130 m wide, 750M usd to build, for 200MW, wonder how financially viable that is.

 

[BCO]

Mmm, 800m high, 130 m wide, 750M usd to build, for 200MW, wonder how financially viable that is.

The article states that there's a projected amortization period of 11 years and the plant has an 80 year designed lifespan. So it would seem very financially viable.