Solar updraft tower

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about a type of power plant. For other uses, see Solar tower (disambiguation).

Schematic presentation of a Solar updraft tower

The solar updraft tower is a renewable-energy power plant. It combines three old and proven
technologies: the chimney effect, the greenhouse effect and the wind turbine. Air is heated by
sunshine and contained in a very large greenhouse-like structure around the base of a tall
chimney, and the resulting convection causes air to rise up the updraft tower. This airflow drives
turbines, which produce electricity. A first research prototype operated in Spain in the 1980s, and
many modelling studies have been published as to optimization, scale and economic feasibility.
A comprehensive technological and feasibility review is available,[1] and an operating solar
chimney power plant is reported to be built and operating in Jinshawan, China, as at December
2010 (below).

Contents
[hide]

 1 Description
 2 History
o 2.1 Prototype in Spain video link
o 2.2 Ciudad Real Torre Solar
o 2.3 Australian proposal video link
o 2.4 Botswana test facility
o 2.5 Namibian proposal
o 2.6 Turkish model
 o 2.7 Jinshawan Solar Chimney
o 2.8 Arizona Projects
 3 Conversion rate of solar energy to electrical energy
 4 Related and adapted ideas
 5 Financial feasibility
 6 See also
 7 References
 8 External links

Description
The generating ability of a solar updraft power plant depends primarily on two factors: the
collector area and the chimney height. With a larger collector area, a greater volume of air is
warmed to flow up the chimney; collector areas as large as 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) in diameter
have been considered. With a larger chimney height, the pressure difference increases the stack
effect; chimneys as tall as 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) have been considered.

Heat can be stored inside the collector area greenhouse to be used to warm the air later on.
Water, with its relatively high specific heat capacity, can be filled in tubes placed under the
collector, increasing the energy storage as needed.[2]

Turbines can be installed in a ring around the base of the tower, with a horizontal axis, as
planned for the Australian project and seen in the diagram above; or—as in the prototype in
Spain—a single vertical axis turbine can be installed inside the chimney.

Carbon dioxide is emitted only negligibly[citation needed] while operating, but is emitted more
significantly during manufacture of its construction materials, particularly cement. Net energy
payback is estimated to be 2–3 years.[2]

A solar updraft tower power station would consume a significant area of land if it were designed
to generate as much electricity as is produced by modern power stations using conventional
technology. Construction would be most likely in hot areas with large amounts of very low-value
land, such as deserts, or otherwise degraded land.

A small-scale solar updraft tower may be an attractive option for remote regions in developing
countries.[3][4] The relatively low-tech approach could allow local resources and labour to be used
for its construction and maintenance.

History
In 1903, Isidoro Cabanyes, a colonel in the Spanish army, proposed a solar chimney power plant
in the magazine La energía eléctrica.[5] One of the next earliest descriptions of a solar chimney
power plant was written in 1931 by a German author, Hanns Günther.[6] Beginning in 1975,
Robert E. Lucier applied for patents on a solar chimney electric power generator; between 1978
and 1981 these patents (since expired) were granted in Australia,[7] Canada,[8] Israel,[9] and the
USA.[10]

Prototype in Spain video link

AWK von La Solana aus

Aufwindkraftwerk Prototyp Manzanares, Spanien. Sicht aus Süden 8 km enfernt

Solar Chimney Manzanares view through the polyester collector roof

Solar Chimney Manzanares-view of the tower through the collector glass roof

View from the tower on the roof with blackened ground below the collector. One can see the
different test materials for canopy cover, and 12 large fields of unblackened ground for
agricultural test area.

In 1982, a small-scale experimental model of a solar chimney power plant[11] was built under the
direction of a German engineer, Jörg Schlaich, in Manzanares, Ciudad Real, 150 km south of
Madrid, Spain; the project was funded by the German government.[12][13]

The chimney had a height of 195 metres and a diameter of 10 metres with a collection area
(greenhouse) of 46,000 m² (about 11 acres (45,000 m2), or 244 m diameter) obtaining a
maximum power output of about 50 kW. However, this was an experimental setup that was not
intended for power generation. Instead, different materials were used for testing, such as single
or double glazing or plastic (which turned out not to be durable enough), and one section was
used as an actual greenhouse, growing plants under the glass. During its operation, optimization
data was collected on a second-by-second basis with 180 sensors measuring inside and outside
temperature, humidity and wind speed.[14]

For the choice of materials, it was taken into consideration that such an inefficient but cheap
plant would be ideal for third world countries with lots of space - the method is inefficient for
land use but very efficient economically because of the low operating cost. So, cheap materials
were used on purpose to see how they would perform, such as a chimney built of iron plating
only 1.25 mm thick and held up with guy ropes. For a commercial plant, a reinforced concrete
tower would be a better choice.

This pilot power plant operated for approximately eight years but the chimney guy rods were not
protected against corrosion and not expected to last longer than the intended test period of three
years. So, not surprisingly, after eight years they had rusted through and broke in a storm,
causing the tower to fall over. The plant was decommissioned in 1989.[15]
Based on the test results, it was estimated that a 100 MW plant would require a 1000 m tower
and a greenhouse of 20 km2. Because the costs lie mainly in construction and not in operation
(free 'fuel', little maintenance and only seven personnel), the cost per energy is largely
determined by interest rates and years of operation, varying from 5 eurocent per kWh for 4% and
20 years to 15 eurocent per kWh for 12% and 40 years.[16]

Ciudad Real Torre Solar

There is a proposal to construct a solar updraft tower in Ciudad Real, Spain, entitled Ciudad
Real Torre Solar. If built, it would be the first of its kind in the European Union[17] and would
stand 750 metres tall[18] – nearly twice as tall as the current tallest structure in the EU, the
Belmont TV Mast[19] – covering an area of 350 hectares (about 865 acres).[20] It is expected to put
out 40 MW of electricity.[21]

Australian proposal video link

EnviroMission has, since 2001,[22] proposed to build a solar updraft tower power generating
station known as Solar Tower Buronga at a location near Buronga, New South Wales.[23]
Technical details of the project are difficult to obtain[24] and the present status of the project is
uncertain.[25] In Enviromission's 2009 Financial Statements it is reported that the option fee
covering the purchase of the Solar Tower Buronga site has been written off as the company does
not intend to purchase the land.[26] This is in keeping with the company's stated intention to
concentrate on commercialising its technology in the USA rather than Australia.[27]

Botswana test facility

Based on the need for plans for long-term energy strategies, Botswana's Ministry of Science and
Technology designed and built a small-scale solar chimney system for research. This experiment
ran from 7 October to 22 November 2005. It had an inside diameter of 2 m and a height of 22m
and was manufactured from glass-reinforced polyester material, with a collection base area of
approximately 160 m2. The roof was made of a 5 mm thick clear glass that was supported by a
steel framework.[28]

Namibian proposal

In mid 2008, the Namibian government approved a proposal for the construction of a 400 MW
solar chimney called the 'Greentower'. The tower is planned to be 1.5 km tall and 280 m in
diameter, and the base will consist of a 37 km2 greenhouse in which cash crops can be grown.[29]

Turkish model

A model solar updraft tower was constructed in Turkey as a civil engineering project.[30]
Functionality and outcomes are obscure.[31][32]

Jinshawan Solar Chimney

In December 2010, a solar chimney plant system in Jinshawan in Inner Mongolia, China started
operation, producing 200-kilowatts of electric power. A 1.38 billion RMB (USD 208 million)
project was started in May 2009 and its aim is to build a facility covering 277 hectares and
producing 27.5 MW by 2013.[33]

Arizona Projects

In October 2010, EnviroMission announced further plans to build two 200 MW Solar Updraft
Towers in Western Arizona. Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) has agreed to
negotiate a power-purchase agreement with EnviroMission for electricity from its Arizona power
plants, should they get built. As at January 2011, the company has secured $29.8 million in debt
and equity from AGS Capital Group.[34]

Conversion rate of solar energy to electrical energy

The solar updraft tower has power conversion rate considerably lower than many other designs
in the (high temperature) solar thermal group of collectors. The low conversion rate of the Solar
Tower is balanced to some extent by the low investment cost per square metre of solar
collection.[35]

According to model calculations, a simple updraft power plant with an output of 200 MW would
need a collector 7 kilometres in diameter (total area of about 38 km²) and a 1000-metre-high
chimney.[2] One 200MW power station will provide enough electricity for around 200,000 typical
households and will abate over 900,000 tons of greenhouse producing gases from entering the
environment annually. The 38 km² collecting area is expected to extract about 0.5 percent, or
5 W/m² of 1 kW/m², of the solar power that falls upon it. Note that in comparison, concentrating
thermal (CSP) or photovoltaic (CPV) solar power plants have an efficiency ranging from 20-
40%. Because no data is available to test these models on a large-scale updraft tower there
remains uncertainty about the reliability of these calculations.[36]

The performance of an updraft tower may be degraded by factors such as atmospheric winds,[37]
[38]
by drag induced by the bracings used for supporting the chimney,[39] and by reflection off the
top of the greenhouse canopy.

Location is also a factor. A Solar updraft power plant located at high latitudes such as in Canada,
could produce up to 85 per cent of the output of a similar plant located closer to the equator, but
only if the collection area is sloped significantly southward.[40]

It is possible to combine the land use of a solar updraft tower with other uses, in order to make it
more cost effective, and in some cases, to increase its total power output. Examples are the
positioning of solar collectors or Photovoltaics underneath the updraft tower collector.[41] This
could be combined with agricultural use.

Related and adapted ideas

  The inverse of the solar updraft tower is the downdraft-driven energy tower. Evaporation
of sprayed water at the top of the tower would cause a downdraft by cooling the air and
driving wind turbines at the bottom of the tower.

 The solar chimney could be constructed up a mountainside using inclined terrain for
support; this could draw power from the updraft out of a thermal inversion, and improve
urban air quality.[42]

 The atmospheric vortex proposal[43] replaces the physical chimney by a controlled or

'anchored' cyclonic updraft vortex. Depending on the column gradient of temperature and
pressure, or buoyancy, and stability of the vortex, very high-altitude updraft may be
achievable. As an alternate to a solar collector, industrial and urban waste-heat could be
used to initiate and sustain the updraft in the vortex.

 A saltwater thermal sink in the collector could 'flatten' the diurnal variation in energy
output, while airflow humidification in the collector and condensation in the updraft
could increase the energy flux of the system.[44]

 Release of humid ground-level air from an atmospheric vortex or solar chimney at

altitude could form clouds or precipitation, potentially altering local hydrology.[45][46][47]
Local de-desertification, or afforestation could be achieved if a regional water cycle were
established and sustained in an otherwise arid area.

 Fitted with a vortex chimney scrubber, the updraft could be cleaned of particulate air
pollution. The solar cyclone distiller[48] could extract atmospheric water in the updraft of
the chimney.

 This cyclonic water distiller could adapt the solar collector-chimney system for large-
scale desalination of brine, brackish- or waste-water pooled in the collector base.[49]

 If the chimney updraft is an ionized vortex, then the electro-magnetic field could be
tapped for electricity, using the airflow and chimney as a generator.[50]

 Energy production and water desalination [51] could be used to support carbon-fixing or
food-producing local agriculture,[52] and for intensive aquaculture and horticulture under
the solar collector as a greenhouse.

Financial feasibility
This section discusses only the simplest, classical design of a solar updraft tower power plant,
and variations are not considered.

A solar updraft power station would require a large initial capital outlay, but would have
relatively low operating cost.[2] However, the capital outlay required is roughly the same as next-
generation nuclear plants such as the AP-1000 at roughly $5 per W of capacity. Like other
renewable power sources there would be no cost for fuel. A disadvantage of a solar updraft tower
is the much lower conversion efficiency than concentrating solar power stations have, thus
requiring a larger collector area and leading to higher cost of construction[53] and maintenance.[15]

This section may be confusing or unclear to readers. Please help clarify the section;
suggestions may be found on the talk page. (December 2007)

Financial comparisons between solar updraft towers and concentrating solar technologies
contrast a larger, simpler structure against a smaller, more complex structure. The "better" of the
two methods is the subject of much speculation and debate.

A Solar Tower is expected to have less of a requirement for standby capacity from traditional
energy sources than wind power does. Various types of thermal storage mechanisms (such as a
heat-absorbing surface material or salt water ponds) could be incorporated to smooth out power
yields over the day/night cycle. Most renewable power systems (wind, solar-electrical) are
variable, and a typical national electrical grid requires a combination of base, variable and on-
demand power sources for stability. However, since distributed generation by intermittent power
sources provides "smoothing" of the rate of change, this issue of variability can also be addressed
by a large interconnected electrical super grid, incorporating wind farms, hydroelectric, and solar
power stations.[54]

There is still a great amount of uncertainty and debate on what the cost of production for
electricity would be for a solar updraft tower and whether a tower (large or small) can be made
profitable. Schlaich et al.[2] estimate a cost of electricity between 7 (for a 200 MW plant) and 21
(for a 5 MW plant) euro cents per kWh, but other estimates indicate that the electricity cannot
possibly be cheaper than 25-35 cents per kWh.[55] Compare this to LECs of approximately 3 Euro
cents per KWh for a 100 MW wind or natural gas plant.[56] No reliable electricity cost figures
will exist until such time as actual data are available on a utility scale power plant, since cost
predictions for a time scale of 25 years or more are unreliable.[57