Arizona plans to build a giant concrete pipe to generate electricity

On the Web the other day there was news about a rather strange (albeit interesting) project of an alternative power plant. So, the company Solar Wind Energy Tower Inc. received permission from the authorities of the town of San Luis (Arizona, USA) to implement a project worth $ 1.5 billion.

The project is to build a 686-meter concrete pipe, with which it is planned to receive 435 MWh of energy per year. In this case, the design, subject to its creation, will be the second highest in the world. Above - only the notorious tower of Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
')
In the place where it is planned to build the tower - the desert, and the air throughout the year remains dry and hot (except for a couple of months). According to the plan of the authors of the project, this air is planned to be cooled by spraying the smallest drops of water on top of the tower. Water will be supplied by pumps. Heated and dry air at its saturation with cold water droplets will cool and “settle”, and with a decent speed - 80 kilometers per hour.

At the base of the tower there will be through holes with turbines, the blades of which the settled air will rotate. Accordingly, we get energy.

Here's how to implement this process:



Despite the approval of the project by the city authorities, this does not mean the intention to finance the construction of the "tower". There is no money for construction, there are no buyers of an undead bear produced (in theory) electricity either. There is only a project that, of course, raises a number of questions among specialists.

For example - how much water is needed for spraying, what are the energy costs for pumping water into the upper part of the "pipe" and everything else. The authors of the "pipe" would be nice to build at least a small working prototype of such a station to show the practicality and reality of this project.

Nevertheless, the leadership of Solar Wind plans to get a working tower by 2018.

Via bloomberg