Subjectivist wrote:It sounds like several of the small turbines would give you more energy to work with than this solar chimney field.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Subjectivist wrote:Do you get a lot of rain? Have you heard of the reverse of the Solar tower, the water mist tower? In the mist design you are a little more complicated than the solar tower but it takes much less space and you need a steady supply of filtered water, ......
The Atmospheric Vortex Engine has the same thermodynamic basis as the solar chimney. The physical tube of the solar chimney is replaced by centrifugal force in the vortex and the atmospheric boundary layer acts as the solar collector. The AVE needs neither the collector nor the high chimney. The efficiency of the solar chimney is proportional to its height which is limited by practical considerations, but a vortex can extend much higher than a physical chimney. The cylindrical wall could have a diameter of 200 m and a height of 100 m; the vortex could be 50 m in diameter at its base and extend up to the tropopause. Each AVE could generate 50 to 500 MW of electrical power.
Solar Wind Energy Tower, Inc. (OTCQB: SWET), (the “Company”) announced today that the Company has successfully managed to economize the Tower by reducing expected capital costs and improving projected financial performance. Some of the best consultants in the world have been working diligently towards bringing the first Downdraft Tower to market.
The Company recently announced the completion of weather data models that confirm the first tower height was lowered from 3,000 feet down to 2,250 feet. Reducing the Downdraft Tower’s height and shape enables the structure to be built much more affordably using the newest formulations of industrial concrete. The benefits of concrete translate into dramatic savings in a number of areas. Concrete is less expensive that steel and is readily available around the world. The newest concrete construction methods enable the concrete to be mixed at ground level and pumped to every level under construction and poured in place. This construction method is much faster than building pre-cast sections on the ground and transporting each section to the required level. The time to construct each tower is dramatically reduced along with the cost of construction.
This development was made possible by utilizing our recently announced software which can calculate and predict energy production by our Solar Wind Downdraft Towers given local weather data. By feeding the weather data for southwestern Arizona/ Northern Mexico into the program, the Tower’s height and diameter was adjusted along with the amount of water added as fuel to create a desired amount of energy. The outcome dictated the optimum size of the Towers height and width. Solar Wind Energy can now evaluate potential Tower sites around the world and calculate and predict the shape and size of the Tower and the amount of electricity that can be produced in any region. Multiple Towers can be deployed in “Compounds” using the same cranes, water source, delivery, manufacturing and construction systems and labor forces.
Under the most recent design specifications, the first San Luis Tower is expected produce abundant, inexpensive electricity with a design capacity on an hourly basis, of up to 1,250 megawatt hours, gross. Using a 60% capacity factor, we expect the Tower’s potential hourly yield equates to 600 megawatt hours, from which approximately 18.5% will be used to power its operations, yielding approximately 500 megawatt hours available for sale to the power grid. Factoring in lower capacities during winter days, the average daily output for sale to the grid for the entire year is approximately 435 megawatt hours per day. Currently in California avoided costs are running approximately $0.11 per kilowatt hour. As an independent power producer of clean renewable energy, the Company will be selling power directly to the power grid rather than directly to consumers.
A test plant is running successfully in Inner Mongolia and scientists want to build full-size versions in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. The researchers have suggested the towers could be constructed inside new skyscrapers.
The technology involves covering an area of several square kilometres to create a greenhouse around a high chimney. The hot air produced in the greenhouse rises through the tower, driving turbines that generate electricity. The higher the tower, the stronger the updraft and the more power created.
The highest previous attempt to master the technology, which has been discussed for decades, ended in failure when a 195-metre tall tower in Manzanares, Spain, collapsed in 1989 due to structural failure.
But Professor Wei Yili , the leader of the project at Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, said he was confident they could now build safe and efficient towers higher than a kilometre.
"The structural problem is no longer a problem for us. We have acquired patents for our technology and design," he said. "The towers will stand for a century, outlasting those who build them or see them built, like the Eiffel Tower."
The 50-metre high test "solar updraft tower" has been running in the Gobi desert in Wuhai for nearly four years.
Scientists wanted to build a chimney as high as 200 metres, but had to rein in their ambitions because of a nearby airport.
"This is the biggest regret of the project," Wei said. "Our power generation capacity and efficiency have been severely restricted by the limited height."
The project has managed to generate up to 4,800 kilowatt hours of electricity a day.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Newfie wrote:I wonder what the equivalent solar production would have been, say had an equivalent size patch of dart been covered with PB panels.
I often wonder why we don’t build more of of covered car parks, especially in places like Florida. Seems an obvious use of the space which also provides shade for the cars and people with no land acquisition cost.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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