Solar Updraft Tower

A solar updraft tower, also called a solar chimney power plant, is a renewable energy device that converts solar heat into electricity through natural convection, built from three main elements: a very wide, greenhouse-like collector at ground level, a tall central chimney tower, and wind turbines. Sunshine heats the air beneath the collector, and the heated air rises through the chimney by the chimney effect, and that airflow drives wind turbines positioned within or around the base of the chimney to generate electricity. As of mid-2018 no full scale commercial solar updraft tower operated anywhere in the world, though several prototype units had been built, and the technology power output depends on the surface area of its collector and the height of its chimney, a larger collector gathering more solar energy and a taller chimney creating a greater pressure difference to drive airflow; the main obstacle to building one is not technical but the large capital cost of construction and the land it requires.