- Last week the Australian government added its support,
but no cash, to a hugely ambitious renewable energy project: the 1 kilometer-high
solar tower.
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- The project is a solar-generated wind farm on a massive
scale. It works on the principle of convection -- hot air rises -- and
the tower functions like a chimney.
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- In a big chimney, air can rise very quickly. The air
reaches 65 degrees Celsius at a speed of 35 mph toward the center of the
7-kilometer collector -- essentially a big greenhouse. As it rises, it
turns specially designed wind turbines and produces electricity.
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- When night falls, heat stored in solar cells during the
day is released and continues to turn the turbines. Unlike traditional
wind farms, the tower doesn't have to rely on the weather for a good crop.
It produces its own wind, 24 hours a day.
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- The project resembles a modern tower of Babel, and it's
almost as ambitious. It will be nearly double the height of the world's
tallest structure, the CN Tower in Canada. It will be visible from space
as well as 80 miles away at ground level.
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- If it is built.
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- Its chief promoter, EnviroMission, is very serious about
the plan, and the company has some very serious people who say they can
do it.
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- For starters, the Australian federal government recently
awarded the tower Major Project Facilitation Status.
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- It means the project is of major public interest, has
the moral backing of the Australian government and will be fast-tracked
by government agencies.
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- The government couldn't wait to get in on the act.
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- "This project confirms Australia as a world leader
in renewable energy production aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. The
EnviroMission venture will represent the world's first full-scale application
of this new solar technology," said Ian Macfarlane, Australia's federal
minister of Industry, Tourism and Resources.
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- The project's credibility is enhanced by the technology's
developers, German structural engineers Schlaich Bergermann and Partner
(SBP), one of the world's most prestigious design companies.
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- SBP has previously experimented with other alternative
energy sources, notably a solar power-collecting dish that can reach temperatures
of 700 degrees.
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- "We developed the solar tower prototype in Spain
after the oil crises of the early '80s," says Wolfgang Schiel. "But
we didn't get a chance to develop the system because everybody thought
oil would go up to $36 a barrel and actually it dropped to $15 and everybody
lost interest."
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- Until now. The prospect of climate change and the demand
for carbon emissions control has given new impetus and financial feasibility
to the tower.
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- It's also impressed environmental activists abroad. "Such
a plant may be relatively costly to build compared with a conventional
wind farm," said Robin Harper of the Green Party in Scotland. "But
its advantage is that it can run when there is no wind and also at night.
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- "This gets around the problem of having to store
energy, one of the biggest criticisms of most existing wind and solar technologies."
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- A 1-kilometer tower can produce 200 megawatts, enough
electricity to power 200,000 homes. This energy output will represent an
annual savings of 830,000 tons of greenhouse CO2 gases from entering the
atmosphere.
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- "One of these plants would produce as much electricity
as a small nuclear reactor, so they are a very serious proposition,"
Harper said.
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- The tower would also have a huge tourism impact. In fact,
the majority of the 50 jobs projected for the power plant would be in the
visitor center. It takes just 15 staff members to run the station.
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- Wentworth Shire, New South Wales -- the town where the
solar tower will be located -- certainly sees its potential.
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- "The significance of this project cannot be overstated,"
says Wentworth mayor Don McKinnon.
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- The company says it hopes to begin construction early
in 2003 and open the plant by late 2005 or early 2006. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,54917,00.html
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