Tallest tower in the world planned for the Outback

Independent News UK ^ | 04 January 2003 | Paul Peachey

[gitmo]

A power company plans to build a 1,000m-high (3,280ft) solar tower in the outback of Australia that would dwarf the world's tallest structures. The tower, as wide as a football pitch and set in the centre of a glass dish 4 miles across, would cost A$1bn (£350m) to build as part of a global drive to use more renewable energy.

If completed as planned in 2006, the tower in New South Wales would be more than twice the height of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which stand at 452m. Currently, the tallest free-standing structure is the Canadian National Tower in Toronto, at 553m.

The project is backed by the government. The company behind it, EnviroMission, hopes the 200MW solar tower will provide enough power to supply 200,000 homes a year.

The sun heats air under the glass and as the hot air rises an updraft is created in the tower that allows air to be sucked through 32 turbines, which generate power. Roger Davey, chief executive officer of EnviroMission, said: "Initially people told me 'you're a dreamer'. But now we have got to the point where it's not if it can be built, but when."

[gitmo]

A 1 KM solar towar that powers 200,00 homes! Impressive.

[TommyDale]

Oh. I thought this was the new waiting area for the Outback restaurants...

[gitmo]

No rules. Just right.

[theFIRMbss]

> The sun heats air under the glass and as the hot air rises an updraft is created in the tower that allows air to be sucked through 32 turbines, which generate power.

Right. Why not just get
those cute Aussie girls to wear
Nazi vortex bras

linked by microwave
to the main Australian
power grid system?

[gitmo]

The Australian power grid can't handle that much amperage.

[punster]

I have my doubts the system will produce enough power from sunlight alone. However, if the Australians could get Teddy Kennedy, Hillary Rotten Clinton, Chuckie Schumerde, Tom Daschole, Patty Murray, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, and the usual run of Demwit suspects to stand under the tower, I am sure there would be enough hot air for the tower to supply an almost unlimited amount of electricity.

[PAR35]

That is for use only at peak times - when the sun is high in the sky. Actual production will be about 80 Mw.

. Storage could reduce the peak capacity from 200 MW to a constant 80 MW, although the intention is to operate as a peaking station.

The demo plant produced electricity only about 25% of the time (15,000 hrs. over 7 years) on a much smaller scale.

This is going to be very expensive electricity if it works. If I read the info below correctly, about 4 times the going rate for conventional production. (About A$120 vs A$25-30.

EnviroMission estimates total unit revenue for renewable energy in the Victorian pool at A$92 per MWh by 2005 (A$45 pool price, A$47 renewable energy certificate price). Revenues for Solar Tower electricity are expected to be enhanced by A$18 in premium for locational benefits, and A$5-15 in premium for peak sales.
The electricity market appears to have stabilized over 2001, with average prices around $A25-30 per MWh,

http://www.aie.org.au/pubs/enviromission.htm

[aruanan]

be more than twice the height of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which stand at 452m.

Just to say it again so that they won't get it by mere repetition: by all criteria used to judge height, the Sears Tower is still the tallest building in the world. Even the commission that gave the distinction to the Petronas Towers in a move of "fairness" said that in 3 of 4 categories the Sears Tower was the tallest building. As far as the other category is concerned, the height is figured to the top of the superstructure which extends above roof level and functions as anchors for antennae. The story is that the published data on the Sears Tower gave the overall height to the top of the roof. The Petronas people thought that was referring to the distance to the top of the superstructure. After their building was completed and they claimed tallest building status, the Sears Tower people showed that the Sears Tower was still the tallest when the superstructure above the roof level was counted (as it was in the Petronas Towers). The Petronas folks appealed and a bureaucratic decision was made that had nothing to do with the reality of height. The Petronas Towers are couple of buildings with giant, uninhabited pasties to make them look taller than they actually are.

[Age of Reason]

How idiotic.

It would be much simpler if they stopped growing their country's population and with it the increased need for more power.

They could start by disallowing immigration.

[Henk]

A 1 KM solar towar that powers 200,00 homes!

And destroys over 14 square miles of the environment.

The available sunlight energy falling on 14 square miles is about 12,000 MW of which this contraption manages to capture 200 MW. That is an efficiency of 1.7%.

If the glass roof is 1 cm thick, that's a total of about 1 million metric tons of glass. It takes about 10,000 MW-sec of energy to make a ton of glass. So, at 200 MW, the plant will have to run for nearly 2 years before it produces enough energy to match what it took just to make the roof.

[MinuteGal]

Anyone have a photo of the Petronas Tower?

Leni

[OXENinFLA]

The Aussies did turn around the Snowy River to Irrigate the inland. That was quite a feat, and turned out to work so well that they could grow rice.

[Dakotabound]

Currently, the tallest free-standing structure is the Canadian National Tower in Toronto, at 553m.

The World's Tallest TOWER, period, is near Blanchard, North Dakota. The KTHI-TV tower is 629 meters (2063 ft) high; its neighbor, the KXJB-TV tower in Galesburg, ND is 628 meters (2060).

The CN tower is a "structure" but far from the tallest "tower". The Aussies will dwarf them all, however. Pretty cool.

[theFIRMbss]

>How idiotic./It would be much simpler if they stopped growing their country's population and with it the increased need for more power./They could start by disallowing immigration.

One could say the same
about the whole human race.
But a tumescent

population drives
both a need for more power,
and innovation!

Fuel-efficient cars,
solid-state electronics
developed out of

power hungry modes.
Two examples of many.
Almost no good things

have come from "managed"
populations that don't have
access to excess,

coupled to normal
human drives to elegance.
Live things grow or die.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

Australia does seem to be one of the places where solar power will make a good deal of economic sense, just as geothermal does in Iceland. But that's just the problem with these "alternative, renewable" energy souces, isn't it -- they can't work everywhere. Some places are just too cloudy for solar, good geothermal sites are few and far between, good locations for wind generators are limited, etc., etc. This is just the same situation that we have with fossil fuels -- distribution is not ubiquitous, but very much concentrated in just a few locations. But the energy that can be harvested from a good site for a renewable energy project almost always ends up being far, far less per acre than what you will get from any fossil fuel deposit on similar acreage. And THIS is a very big reason why alternative, renewable energy sources are ALWAYS going to result in more expensive energy per unit than we get from any and all fossil fuels now. It is true that in time, as fossil fuels are depleted and become more scarce, their cost will go up, eventually to the point where they will cost more than the renewables, and then the switchover will commence in earnest. But that will NEVER drive the cost of renewable energy per unit down to anything close to the price of fossil fuel energy we are enjoying today.

Future = more expensive energy. That is the bottom line.

[Black Powder]

The CN tower is a "structure" but far from the tallest "tower".

It said "tallest free-standing structure". The radio masts in ND are not free-standing, and I believe the tallest radio mast in the world is currently somewhere in Poland.

[Dakotabound]

It said "tallest free-standing structure". The radio masts in ND are not free-standing, and I believe the tallest radio mast in the world is currently somewhere in Poland.

Nope, that Polish tower burned down in 1991. North Dakota rules! ;-)

[RightWhale]

Anyone have a photo of the Petronas Tower?

There are images of the artist's concept on the other thread.

[Willie Green]

A 1 KM solar towar that powers 200,00 homes!

I didn't realize the Aussies had anywhere near 200K homes in the Outback.
What're they gonna do with all that electricity?

[FreedomCalls]

Anyone have a photo of the Petronas Tower?

Click here.