Power towers:

Around the world, many utility companies have recently installed large photovoltaic arrays to provide customers with solar generated electricity.

Source: Research Institute for Sustainable Energy.

These solar thermal power plants or power towers can also act as backup systems in case of the failure of "critical" electrical equipment.

The first commercial solar thermal plant or power tower was erected in southern California's Mojave Desert in 1984. Despite the success of this project, and the great potential of solar thermal plants in general, only a handful has been built worldwide in the past decade, though there are a number in the planning stages. Such systems are unlikely to be economical in Australia in the foreseeable future.

To view a photo of the power tower in the Mojave Desert, go to:
www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/csp.html

EnviroMission Limited, a Melbourne-based engineering firm, is planning to build five Solar Tower power stations in Australia. By 2008, EnviroMission expects to have constructed the first power station, which will have the capacity to supply renewable energy to about 200,000 households. This is equivalent to the number of homes in a city that is the size of Hobart or Geelong. Each one of EnviroMission’s power stations will save some 900,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere.

The Solar Tower development will be located in the Buronga district of the Wentworth Shire in New South Wales.

For more information about this power tower development, go to:
www.enviromission.com.au/index1.htm

To find out more about Australian projects in solar thermal technology, go to:
www.greenhouse.gov.au/renewable/recp/solar/index.html

^ back to top ^