If located at Monahans, the solar tower -- also known as a solar chimney -- would be, at 3,000 feet tall, the largest manmade structure in the world and generate 200 megawatts of green electricity, enough to power 200,000 homes.
"As an oilfield community, we've been in the energy industry all our lives," said Gene Brown, president of the Monahans Chamber of Commerce and consultant to the Monahans Economic Development Corporation. "We want to be on the cutting edge of the next energy boom."
Chris Davey of SolarMission Technologies, the U.S. company that is a major stockholder in EnviroMission Ltd., the Australian developers of the tower, said the project operates on the basic rule of physics that holds that hot air rises.
The project will be built at a cost of $350 million and create over 2,000 jobs during construction and create business for numerous local vendors, especially concrete vendors, Brown said.
"While that's good for Monahans, it's also good for the Permian Basin," he said. "It will create over 2,000 construction jobs and we'll be able to put a lot of people to work."
He said there is no doubt the project will draw workers from surrounding areas like Midland, Odessa, Kermit and Andrews.
"The most important thing," Brown continued, "is that for years and years things we've viewed as a disaster -- our population declining, losing school population, may actually be a positive. Our schools can absorb the influx of students, our infrastructure -- housing, sewer, police -- won't be stretched thin by the influx of new workers."
Davey acknowledged that it was Monahans' available infrastructure, as well as its experience in the energy industry, with a plentiful supply of the engineers, geologists, machinists and welders needed for the project that has SolarMission looking at West Texas.
At the present, Davey said, preliminary feasibility studies are being conducted over the next six months, followed by another 18 months of putting together the financing, environmental impact studies and getting government approvals before construction actually begins.
There is a chance, if the first tower is a success, that up to four could be built, Davey said, and the costs of construction would decline with subsequent projects.
If additional towers are built, Brown said, construction jobs would last seven to 10 years and there would be 15 to 20 permanent jobs afterwards to operate the towers. Indeed, he said, neighboring communities are pledging their help in securing the tower.
Davey noted that the impact of the tower would be felt beyond its contribution to the electric power grid or to developing renewable energy. He cited tourism as an example, noting that tourists would be drawn to the world's tallest manmade structure. To accommodate tourists, he said observation decks would be built at 1,500 feet and at 3,000 feet.
This, said Brown, "is a chance for Midland and Odessa, Monahans and Pecos to get together and discuss tourism packages, putting together tour groups that would come to the Petroleum Museum in Midland, the Presidential Museum in Odessa, the meteor crater, the solar tower, the Monahans Sandhills, and the Judge Roy Bean office in Pecos. Once we get the tower, that might be our next big project. Once a tourist comes to see the sights, they might want to stay and play golf or go to a cookout on a ranch. We need to find ways to make it worth their time to spend three or four days in West Texas."
The German-designed technology, licensed by SolarMission, operates like this:
A "greenhouse" of transparent material two-and-a-half to three miles in diameter will collect hot air, which will flow through 32 turbines situated around the base of the concrete tower. The difference in temperature between the interior of the collector and the tower and ambient temperature will provide a constant source of uplift of heated air, generating power.
Unlike other renewable power sources such as wind, hydro or solar, Davey pointed out, the solar tower is not dependent on sunny days or wind speeds.
"We are a large-scale power generator and can guarantee delivery of power," Davey said. "We can deliver power on demand" just like the natural gas-fired electrical power generation plant in Odessa.
West Texas, with its solar radiation, access to a power grid and flat terrain, makes it a prime candidate for the first solar tower in the United States. Other candidates are sites in Arizona and Nevada.
But Davey said Texas' mandate that a percentage of electricity be generated by renewable sources, tax incentives and the community's support for the project are weighing in West Texas' favor.
"This is a conducive climate to renewable energy," Davey said.
The technology has been successfully proven with a small-scale plant in Spain. The key to success, Davey said, is being able to provide the power at a cost competitive with power generated by natural gas, coal or fuel oil-powered plants. Power generated by the solar tower, he said, will be a bit more costly but should be "in the ballpark."
While the jobs created, the $350 million investment and the contribution to renewable energy is important, Brown also has a typically Texan reason for wanting the solar tower built in Texas:
"We want Texas to be the first," he said. "If it's going to be the biggest manmade structure in the world, we want it to be in Texas."
----- Original Message -----From: Frederick SparberSent: 10/23/2006 2:07:12 AMSubject: Re: Exhaust Gas Stack Effect TurbineWhy not use one of these to scavenge the hot exhaust gasesof a gas turbine or such? A 5,000 hp jet engine like the onesused off a C-130 aircraft for burning sawdust (~3.0 megawatt generator) produce about36 pounds per second of about 1,800 degree Fahrenheit exhaust gases.A bit too tall for working off the tailpipe of your SUV?Fred
