Solar Updraft Towers

The solar updraft tower converts solar-based thermal energy into concentrated aerodynamic energy that drives turbine generators. 

This low-tech solar energy collector concept is over 100 years old. The Spanish Colonel Isidoro Cabanyes first proposed it in 1903, but the first patent for this design was applied for by Robert E. Lucier in 1975. The first 50 kW working model was built in 1982 in Ciudad Real, south of Madrid, Spain. 

Post-Oil Energy Technology After the Age of Fossil Fuels 

This project was funded by the German government. The chimney of this model had a 10 m (33 ft) diameter and was 195 m (640 ft) tall, whereas the diameter of the canopy was 244 m (800 ft) in diameter (about 11 acres, or 46,000 m2, in area). This prototype operated for 9 yr and reached a maximum production of 50 kW. 

much larger installations (50-200 mW) are planned in Australia, China, and the American Southwest. This year, construction will start on the world s first commercial plant in Australia. The 2 mi diameter canopy of this 50 mW power station at Tapio will be 2.4 m (8 ft) tall at the perimeter and will rise to 15 m (50 ft) at the center near the tower. The tower will be 79 m (260 ft) in diameter and 488 m (1,600 ft) in height. It is anticipated that this power plant will meet the electricity needs of 100,000 homes. The government-financed plant is expected to cost 75 million. 

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The air-mass thunderstorm is the least severe of all thunderstorms. In its simplest form, an air-mass thunderstorm grows as a single cell when solar radiation heats the surface air in an unstable atmosphere. Its life cycle lasts around 30 minutes. Towering cumulus clouds are formed as in-cloud updrafts push moisture upward. The tower may reach a height about five times the diameter of the cloud base in the growth phase. 

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