A solar tower is a proposed type of renewable energy plant. It combines three old proven technologies including the greenhouse effect, the chimney effect and the wind turbine. All together, these three concepts create a renewable energy source equivalent to a set of solar panels. The air is heated by the sun and is stored in a very large greenhouse at the base of the tower. The result is convection and hot air rising through the chimney which in turn, causes the wind turbine at the top to begin spinning. While this turbine is spinning, mass amounts of energy is produced.
While the solar tower has a power conversion rate considerably lower than many other designs in the solar thermal group of collects, the low investment cost per square meter of solar collection balances this out. According to model calculations, a simple solar tower with an output of 200 MW would need a collector seven kilometers in diameter and a 1000-meter-high chimney.
Location is a main factor in the amount of energy the tower produces. Depending on the altitude of the solar tower destination, there may be less or more energy generated than usual. Other factors like wind, rain and temperature may also effect the energy output of the system.
There is an ongoing debate of which type of renewable energy is most effective and productive. While we may never know which will save you the most money, or which is truly the best for the environment, we all know that using any of them will help do our part to save our world.
This is interesting. I was aware of another type of solar tower that creates steam for a turbine. Does this create enough heat and convection to spin a 200 MW turbine? That turbine must be gigantic.
ReplyDeleteWhere does the turbine go?
-Inquisitive