1 000m tower a reality

2004-02-03 14:20

Sydney - Australia took a step towards building the world's tallest structure, a solar electricity plant measuring 1 000m, on Tuesday as experts reported that it would be commercially viable.

EnviroMission has spent 15 months investigating the feasibility of the concrete tower to be built at the fruit-growing town of Mildura on the border of Victoria and New South Wales states.

The tower would be almost twice as high as the world's tallest structure, the CN communications tower in Toronto which stands at 553.33m.

"The success of the pre-feasibility study signals the go-ahead towards full commerciality and is one of the most significant decisions in the progress of solar tower technology to date," company chief executive Roger Davey said.

"The economic benefits illustrated in the study's financial modelling are adequate to ensure the commerciality of solar tower development taking into account revenue expected from energy generation, associated derivatives and potential revenue from naming rights."

The tower would be visible 100km away and would create 1 200 jobs during construction, falling to 50 thereafter.

It would stand atop a transparent solar collector 7km in diameter. It works by heating air at the base - which is about 30 degrees celcius hotter than air at the top of the tower and the resulting convection force creates a powerful updraft which generates clean power, enough to service 200 000 houses.

The tower would be the equivalent of a 200 megawatt power station.

The cost of the tower and likely construction date have not been revealed.

- AFP