Developing of Solar Chimney Power Plants.

In the medium term, solar chimney plants are an interesting alternative for the earth's dry and sunny regions. Their mode of functioning combines the physical principles of chimney draft, greenhouse and rotor that were already known in the ancient world in a new and ingeniously simple way. The functionality of solar chimney technology was tested in the Spanish Manzanares region for seven years. However, a feasibility study on solar chimney plants that work without water for cooling showed that levelized cost of electricity cannot compete with parabolic trough technology based on the materials that are available today and the current financing environment.

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Consequently, Solar Millennium will focus on optimizing concentrating solar systems for the time being. In addition to parabolic trough technology, this also includes the expansion of analysis and expertise with regard to the construction of solar towers. However, should this show that the commercial and geographical requirements justify the use of an updraft solar chimney plant, the Solar Millennium AG subsidiary Smagsol GmbH could revert to this concept any time and implement it in a demonstration plant.