EnviroMission plans massive solar tower for Arizona

[M II A II R II K]

Twice the height of the Empire State - EnviroMission plans massive solar tower for Arizona


July 21, 2011

By Loz Blain

Read More: http://www.gizmag.com/enviromission-...newable/19287/

An ambitious solar energy project on a massive scale is about to get underway in the Arizona desert. EnviroMission is undergoing land acquisition and site-specific engineering to build its first full-scale solar tower - and when we say full-scale, we mean it! The mammoth 800-plus meter (2625 ft) tall tower will instantly become one of the world's tallest buildings. Its 200-megawatt power generation capacity will reliably feed the grid with enough power for 150,000 US homes, and once it's built, it can be expected to more or less sit there producing clean, renewable power with virtually no maintenance until it's more than 80 years old.

The advantages of this kind of power source are clear:

• Because it works on temperature differential, not absolute temperature, it works in any weather;

• Because the heat of the day warms the ground up so much, it continues working at night;

• Because you want large tracts of hot, dry land for best results, you can build it on more or less useless land in the desert;

• It requires virtually no maintenance - apart from a bit of turbine servicing now and then, the tower "just works" once it's going, and lasts as long as its structure stays standing;

• It uses no 'feed stock' - no coal, no uranium, nothing but air and sunlight;

• It emits absolutely no pollution - the only emission is warm air at the top of the tower. In fact, because you're creating a greenhouse underneath, it actually turns out to be remarkably good for growing vegetation under there.

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• Video Link

[SD_Phil]

I was really interested by this proposal. I looked at their own site here and had a bit of a time finding info. For example the page specifically about the Arizona project doesn't have anything dated later than 2009 on it.

The media section contains some more recent information (one link leading directly to the article posted here). It's all really quite vague actually in terms of actually saying how much money has already been invested, who the investors are, what kind of agreements have been reached with the southern california power agency.

Other links that sound more interesting like "EnviroMission Secure $30,000,000 Debt/Equity Facility" link to basically nothing link

So color me skeptical, but hopeful

[Troubadour]

I'd be inclined to think institutional investors will choose to scale up more gradually than this project would represent, but I'm always ready (and quite willing!) to be surprised. Although I'm ultimately rooting for photovoltaics to win the solar competition.

[sw5710]

The latest is they will start construction in 2013.

[Alpha]

Why do they not plan to build this tower taller than 828 metres and bring so the record for world's tallest structure back to the USA?
Beside this, it embetters its effiency!

[scalziand]

Here's a development that might make having large chimneys obsolescent: the atmospheric vortex engine.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/12/pet...ic-vortex.html

AVEtec is the brainchild of Canadian engineer, Louis Michaud. His Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE) harnesses the physics of tornados to produce extremely cheap and clean energy. In his design, warm or humid air is introduced into a circular station, where it takes the form of a rising vortex, i.e. a controlled tornado. The temperature difference between this heated air and the atmosphere above it supports the vortex and drives multiple turbines. The vortex can be shut down at any time by turning off the source of warm air.




On the one hand, it should be much cheaper to build than conventional solar chimneys as planned, but the tornadic updrafts would appear to be relatively uncontained, and might succumb to a NIMBY fear of being a 'tornado generator'. The discussion comments on the Nextbigfuture article are quite interesting.

[crimsonnac]

Neat! Any idea where in Arizona this will be built?

[sw5710]

Between Parker and Quartzsite. Near RTE 95

[Rizzo]

I like this idea since I'm a big fan of centralized solar power. While they say this could last 80 years, I imagine they'll be frequently ripping out large modules of panels to be replaced with more modern ones as the technology improves. That's the beauty of centralized facilities. They can be updated, modernized maintained more cheaply and efficiently than a ton of home based installations.

[scalziand]

^These are updraft towers; there's no photovoltaic panels to replace as the technology improves.