towering solar proposal could light-up west te

Towering solar proposal could light-up West Texas economy
mywesttexas.com ^
Posted on 6/17/2003 2:40:59 AM by chance33_98

Towering solar proposal could light-up West Texas economy

Artist's rendering of a solar tower complex.


By Toan Lam , NewsWest 9 06/13/2003

The Permian Basin may soon be home to the tallest man-made structure in the world. It's a proposal for a gigantic project that would also bring in big bucks and many new jobs into the local economy.

Solar Mission Technologies, Ltd. is a company out of Australia. They're looking at building 3,000-feet-tall solar plants in the Monahans area of Reeves County. But that's not the only prospect towering over the town ... there's also the possibility of thousands of jobs.

CLICK HERE to visit EnviroMission online.

Generating electricity has long been a part of the West Texas eneregy industry. From the TXU plant in Monahans to the windmills in Scurry County and elsewhere. But now one town is planning to take electric technology to a whole new level.

"It's as clean of an industry as you can bring to the Permian Basin," said Gene Brown, who pursues economic development for the Monahans Chamber of Commerce. "Certainly, we have all types of generation going on."

What the Monahans Chamber is embarking on is this ... solar towers that will produce clean green energy. It's an idea that could grow.

"If they build one tower, they would really like to build two or three," Brown explained. "Because the cost goes down with each one that you build."

Besides the good ol' West Texas hospitality, other reasons the company is looking at Monahans include the hot, sunny weather and the fact there's a lot of flat land.

"We have a big advantage because we have the longest days of sunlight and highest radiation units, and the best people to work with," Brown pointed out. "Right now they're concentrating on this site."

But this hot idea isn't the only thing causing excitement in this town. The sunshine would also spread onto the Monahans economy.

"The construction of the plant will take about 2,500 employees from two to three years," said Brown. "If they do multiple towers, that could stretch out to five, seven to ten years."

That would provide an economic boost the town is dire need of.

"We desperately need those jobs created in the Permian Basin," Brown admitted. "We need the residual jobs that would be left with the operation of the tower."

The project would cost the company about $350-million. Right now Monahans is waiting on a series of tests before construction. Those tests should take a few years.

From EnviroMission ... The solar thermal power station will be composed of three major components: the solar collector, Solar Tower and turbines. The large solar collector canopy will be constructed from a transparent material with heat enhancing properties.

The Tower will be constructed from reinforced high strengh concrete.

The large-scale turbines will be purpose designed and constructed from lightweight alloy materials like those used in aircraft manufacture.

The sun's radiation will be collected and trapped under the transparent canopy, creating a massive force of air heated to around 35°C greater than the ambient temperature. The laws of physics will make this air move at 15 metres per second towards the cold air at the top of the Tower located in centre of the canopy. The powerful updraft will force the rising air to pass through large turbines positioned at the base of the Tower. The movement of the hot wind through the turbines will generate up to 200MW of clean, emission free electricity - enough electricity for 200,000 typical Australian homes.

EnviroMission's solar thermal power station will generate electricity 24-hours a day. The power station will be at its most efficient on hot days when energy is most needed and peak prices are paid for electricity.

Innovative design will enable the power station to store heat and continue to generate energy during the night. This special feature enhances the commercial viability of the power station and gives EnviroMission a consistent competitive advantage over other forms of renewable energy generation.